The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Albemarle Co Government Wants Rent Control; Here's Why AlbCo Gov Is Making A Bad Call

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Albemarle Co Government Wants Rent Control Here’s Why AlbCo Gov Is Making A Bad Call Does UVA Want Frats Out For Real Estate? UVA Children’s Hospital #1 In VA For 4th Year UVA Dr. Vergales Backs Up Kids Ranking Closing Stores: Walgreen’s 1200; 7-11 444 Big Box Stores Closing – What It Means For CVille? “The Penguin” On MAX Is A Must-Watch Show Read Viewer And Listener Comments On Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. It's great to be with you on a crisp fall afternoon in downtown Charlottesville, two miles, less than two miles from the John Paul Jones Arena, from Scott Stadium, and from Phi Kappa Psi, from Chi Phi, from Theta Chi, from Sigma Chi, from Delta Gamma, from Pi Kappa Phi, and the fraternities and sororities that make up Greek life at the University of Virginia. I'm going to ask you this question. Is the UVA machine creating headwinds for fraternities and sororities at the University of Virginia because the ulterior motive is taking over their real estate, taking over their dirt for the purposes of absorbing the real estate into a growing empire?

That is the University of Virginia. UVA has purchased the foods of all nations. Ivy Square Shopping Center. UVA is growing down Ivy Road to Ivy and Western Albemarle. UVA's grown down West Main Street toward the downtown mall. UVA's grown into Fifeville, into Cherry Avenue. UVA's grown into Star Hill. UVA's grown into the 10th and Page neighborhood.

Is UVA trying to grow down Rugby Road? We'll talk about that on the Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville show. On today's program, ladies and gentlemen, we will highlight Walgreens and 7-Eleven closing stores left and right. 1,200 stores to be exact announced for Walgreens and 7-Eleven closing stores left and right. 1,200 stores to be exact announced for Walgreens to close and 444 stores announced for 7-Eleven. What does that mean for Charlottesville?

And I don't mean what does that mean for the locations in Charlottesville and in Central Virginia that are 7-Eleven and Walgreens, although that is a good question. I'm asking this question. If Walgreens is closing 1,200 stores and 7-Eleven is closing 444, what does that mean to the small business retailer in Charlottesville, now Moreau County and Central Virginia? We'll unpack that on today's program. Dr. Jeff Regalis, he's come on the program, Judah. You can maybe find, do you have a Jeff Regalis photo? Dr. Jeff Regalis, former neighbor in the, in the Glenmore neighborhood. He's a fantastic doctor at the UVA Children's Hospital. He's got a letter, a letter to the Daily Progress about the, the rankings for the UVA Children's Hospital. Is it number one in the Commonwealth for the fourth straight year, Judah, the Children's Hospital? That's correct. Number one in the Commonwealth for the fourth straight year,

the Children's Hospital. And many, including some of Dr. Vergales' peers, are taking shots at that ranking, saying it's disingenuous and it's a smoke and mirror ranking based on fraudulent billing, based on medical chart changing, based on bamboozling patients and their families. And Vergales, he pushes back. He says, in the words of Lee Corso, not so fast, my friends. He says, I'm in charge in a lot of ways of putting those rankings together, compiling the data. And these rankings are justified, and here's why.

We'll talk about that on the Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville show. We'll talk about a show that I've been watching with my wife, The Penguin. Is it dark? Yes. Is it disturbing? Yes. Is it violent? Yes. Is it authentic? Is it compelling? Does it captivate the imagination? Does it hold your attention? If something can hold my attention, and I'm about as ADHD as it gets, then I'm telling you, it's worth watching. And the penguin on Max embodies all those qualities. Colin Farrell

is the man behind the penguin. You will not recognize him. It looks like he's put on 150 pounds and is 50 years older than he actually is. But he plays this role in fantastic capacity, authentic capacity, criminal capacity. It's just very, very good. I heard he never wants to put the makeup on again. Not because he doesn't like the show. Are you on screen? No.

Okay. Is that the voice of God or is that the voice of Judah? Or is it one and the same? Is it one and the same? It's definitely not one and the same. Well, you hummed. You paused as if you were about to take credit for that. Are you on screen right now?

No. Can we get Judah on a two-shot? It's fall. He's got his flannel on. His beard is manicured. The beard's got a little red. It's got a little gray. He's freshly haircutted.

Can you stand up? Can I stand up? Show my midsection? Let him see what you got. All this man needs is a roll of paper towels, and he's the bounty guy. What's the bounty tagline? Oh, you're asking the wrong person.

Bounty paper bounty tagline? Oh, you're asking the wrong person. Bounty paper towel tagline? The quicker picker-upper. Can you say, I'm the quicker picker-upper? No. Bounty. No? All right. We'll take it too far.

A lot we're going to cover on today's program, ladies and gentlemen. The Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville Show presented by Mexicali Restaurant. It's a street art museum. It's a cocktail bar. It's a music venue. It's Latin fusion, California and Hispanic cuisine. It's Mexicali Restaurant on West Main Street. Johnny Ornelas and River Hawkins, they are dynamite.

50 parking spaces on site. It is a special restaurant. Hall Spencer walking across the street, the crimes reporter for the Daily Progress, the former owner of the Seville Weekly, the former owner of the Hook, the former owner of the Jefferson Theater, now calling a beautiful, beautiful apartment

in the Court Square building his home when he's not living in our neighborhood on the west side of town. Hall Spencer, we love you. We love you dearly. Sincerely mean that. All right, a lot we're going to cover in the program. Judah, the Jeff Regalis photo,

give me a thumbs up when you have that. We'll show it later in the program. Neil Williamson, Free Enterprise Forum. The headline is, Al Moro seeks misguided Rent Control Power. He says this. I'll read straight from the Free Enterprise Forum and the president, Neil Williamson, who is pretty damn good at his job. He said, buried on page four of Albemarle County's rather dense laundry list of draft 2025 legislative positions and policy statements is their new endorsement of

rent stabilization. To be clear, the Alamara County Board of Supervisors is asking the General Assembly for the power to dictate rent increases on private property. Neil Williamson says, we believe rent stabilization is rent control by a new planner speak name. And he highlights many reasons why rent control, and I'll put it in a nutshell what rent control is. Government telling private land and real estate owners how much they can charge for the residential properties they own. And if you limit that rent increase to a year-over-year 5% bump, you are still telling private government, private real estate owners, what they can or cannot do with their real estate. So a lot of people in this community are going to say this.

Hey, government, keeping rents in check is a good idea. They'll say, hey, it costs $2,500 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, two bathrooms. That's in Charlottesville and Alamaro County. It costs $3,000 a month for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom in Charlottesville or Alamaro County. And that number since COVID-19 has increased dramatically. Depending on where you shop, some say rents in Charlottesville and Alamaro County have jumped 30 to 40 percent. Even on this very talk show, the distinguished Judah Wickauer has made the compelling argument that landlords are greedy and only concerned with their bottom line, and they themselves are the ones that

are driving the gentrification of our community. You've said that, Judah. I think that's a gross oversimplification. I can't wait to hear Judah's stance change on the Tuesday edition of the show. I don't think I ever said every landlord is a greedy bastard who's driving up the prices.

You and I have gotten in probably our most heated conversations close to argument. Some would say argument. When it's come to rents in Charlottesville and Almar County since COVID. Okay. I said let the free market decide. I said if Tom and Joe rent their condo for this amount of money,

then Steve and Billy can choose to cut their price, rent it at the same number, or at a number higher than Tom and Joe. And that's how the market works. And then you said, well, if it just follows what the other person is renting, then it's never going to get stabilized because people are just going to chase more and more and more and more.

You've alleged that you have no control of the price and it's entirely based on the market, which I find laughable. I've never said that landlords shouldn't be able to decide what price to rent their places out for? The market determines the price. The market determines the price. With my rentals, will we pursue the highest dollar possible? No, we don't do that. I intentionally rent our rentals anywhere between 8% and 10% below market. We rent them 8% to 10% below market because we don't want vacancies. I learned from my mentor, Bill Nitschman, had a conversation with Bill Nitschman yesterday in his office in the professional center about vacancies and how it impacts a business model for someone who owns real estate. You go a month of missing rent, you will never make that rent back up over the course of a one-year lease,

even if you increase your rents 15% year over year. You just won't do it. He taught me I actualize 8% to 10% below market, have a waiting list, no vacancies. That's what we do. The market justifies 10% more, but I'd rather keep the place full. And if I have a tenant in place that has good payment history, good leasing history, takes care of the property, improves the property, doesn't call me anytime something needs to be fixed. I even choose Judah not to increase the

rent on some occasions year over year. You've seen it firsthand. You will help us manage the real estate. We have some tenants in here that have been with us for a decade plus. You know who they are. For them to be with us for a decade plus, if I was to raise their rent year over year, 5%, call it 5% minimum, year over year, that would be a substantial increase over a 10-year period of time. I do not do that because I want occupancy and not vacancy. What Neil is highlighting and what Albemarle County government is trying to do, and I really want you to come at me on this, is he's saying they're lobbying the General Assembly for the autonomy or the ability to implement rent control in Alamaro County.

Yeah, because they can't. They can't do it right now because it's a Dillon's rule state. And I say if you implement rent control in Alamaro County, you will be left, as Neil has highlighted on the Free Enterprise Forum, with an ecosystem of crap. Because the landlord won't invest in improving the housing stock he or she owns like we do every year. The landlord will understand that the tenant is going to basically cap what he or she can make with their offering. And if what they're offering is capped from a rent standpoint,

why should they put more money into it? It creates a society or an ecosystem. It creates housing stock that has never improved. And it creates a renter that doesn't choose to better him or herself that stays in the place because they have a monthly rent that's frozen in time. Frozen in time. The people that are impacted by this are on the financial margin. Will landlords be impacted by this? Yes. But will the landlord be impacted by this as much as those on the financial margin? No. The ones on the financial margin will stay in capped rent environments and product that is deteriorating and suffering from condition. Or they won't even get into it.

Explain that to the viewer and listener. Well, if people are – once you are in a rent-capped rental, why would you leave? So you're essentially freezing not all of the rentals, but obviously people are going to want to stay in the places that are rent-capped. And so once they're in there, they're going to stay in there. And it's not necessarily going to be the low income people that either get into those places or are in those places. And so you end up at the end of the day with less rental stock and the same people still looking for places to live. Logan Wells Claylow holds us correct. Jerry, it's brawny. It's not bounty. June is the brawny man,

not the bounty man. But the quicker picker upper is the bounty. Is the bounty tagline. Yeah. But you're more like the brawny guy than the bounty guy.

Well, thank you. I stand corrected. Thank you very much, Logan Wells-Claylow. Are we live on LinkedIn? The brawny tagline is stay giant. Judah's a giant. I would say that very much embodies your physique. Are we live on LinkedIn?

Let's see, yeah. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. I don't think we are. I think you need to reset the LinkedIn position. Thank you for retweeting the program. Logan Wells-Claylow, thank you for holding us accountable. Ginny Hu, thank you for the retweet. I sent Neil Williamson's link to friends of mine.

What's that? I see it on here. Okay. All right. I stand corrected. If we're live on LinkedIn, I stand corrected. I sent Neil Williamson's content to four via text message last night. I found out about this on LinkedIn through John Blair. John Blair tagged me in the comment section of Neil Williamson's LinkedIn post, and I was flabbergasted. I immediately take the link and I send it to four colleagues of mine,

friends of mine that are in the real estate space that own residential real estate and commercial real estate. One of them said this. This is how he responded text-wise. He said exact words. Jesus, stay away from residential rentals. I'm going to ask you this question. Hear me out.

What are we missing in Albemarle County and what are we missing in Charlottesville? What are we short of? Everything. Housing? Rentals? There you go. Be succinct. We're missing housing, right? We're short housing. forum and you hear on the I Love Seville show that the Albemarle County government is lobbying the General Assembly to afford it the power to potentially

create a rent controlled environment. You're a developer and a builder of housing. Would you build the housing that could be potentially controlled or stabilized in price by government? Would you do that?

No, I mean, it's the same reason why people in Charlottesville are, when they actually plan on building like apartment blocks, they're building nine-unit occupancy places rather than 10 because, as we've talked about before the the numbers don't pencil out on uh on some of the restrictions that have been imposed through the new zoning ordinance

and what is that called inclusionary zoning is what it's called the affordable housing requirements in the city of charlottesville with the new zoning audits, 10% of units on developments that are 10 or greater must be affordable at 60% AMI for 99 years. That's insanity. Charlottesville's got inclusionary zoning mythologies that are so damning, and make sure we're live on LinkedIn, that are so damning that it's keeping people from actually surpassing the 10-unit threshold, the 10-unit or more threshold. Yeah. When you create an inclusionary zoning mandates, regulations, red tape,

whatever you want to call it, and rent control is inclusionary zoning, when you do that and you tell the free market what they can or cannot do with their hard work, the free market is just going to not do any work in that jurisdiction. It will find other jurisdictions that's more accommodating and welcoming. They're developers.

They're business people. There are developers that worked in Charlottesville who have moved to different areas. Oliver Kutner. Great example. See him all the time. Recently married. Saw him the other day.

You have Albemarle County that is so short on housing that it thinks the best situation for those on the financial margin is to rent control housing as opposed to expanding the developmental area past the 5% threshold. I don't even think we should expand the developmental area past the 5% threshold. Neil and I disagree on that. I think we should maximize the 5% threshold of development before we expand the 5% threshold of development. And I also think that we should prioritize schools and transportation and roads and infrastructure before we add more development or expand the 5%. But what I can say and what I do know is this.

Rent control is way more damning, way more damning than expanding the 5%. Viewers and listeners, giddy up and get ready. It's coming down the pipe and I encourage you to read what he's got on the free enterprise forum. Anything you want to add to this? While it may seem like I'm anti-landlord. It does seem like you're anti-landlord. When you talk about things like landlords not having any choice in the pricing because the market sets the price, I push back on that. I just gave you an example that I choose to rent. I know, I know. But in our blow up arguments, that's not the stance you were, you were talking about. You were saying landlords have no choice. The market decides the, the price. And I was

reading articles about, uh, about, uh, software that, uh, here we go. I knew Harry was going to go with the software. You use this software to help determine rents. It's basically a tenant management system, and the tenant management system is software that's colluding and basically creating a rent rental standard that's just driving up rents every single year. And if everybody else is just basing their prices on a program like that, then yeah, I have a problem. But that doesn't mean that I think that government should come in and say you can't raise rent past 5% a year or you have to cap it at a certain price.

I don't think that's the answer either. The answer is never, never government overstep. I agree. It's never government overstep. The government overstep with the new zoning ordinance. And it's backfired. It's backfired. And I'm sure there are places that are good illustrations of that backfire.

Comments coming in fast and furious. John Blair's photo on screen. Jerry, here's the real issue with the silliness of rent control. Over 90 years, the S&P has an 11.3% annual return. Rent control bills usually cap rent increases at 5% to 7% per year. How in the world does it make any sense to invest in real estate if your returns are capped at a rate below the S&P 500 index? Great point.

Deep Throat has made this comment. I find his commentary fascinating. John, same with you. He said this last night. And people are going to bristle on this people are going to bristle but it's frank if you want to know what rent control looks like go to West Haven

they don't have to pay rent increases people will bristle at that but he's being frank he also says this if planners want more apartments to be built they have to let rents go up we have a saying in the commodities market the cure for high prices is high prices very true in the case of rental real estate. Looking at construction costs and rent levels, I think that the margins for building multifamily housing, even with the increase in rents in the last few years,

are quite narrow here. You know what's a great example of that? The guy who owns Heirloom Development, who built a building where Blue Mountain, where Blue Moon Diner is. Is that what it is on West Main? Blue Moon Diner? That's its name, right?

I think the place that was recently rebuilt, yeah. By the ABC store? Yeah. He owned the Livery Stable building where the Artful Lodger also is. He was going to build apartments there. Yeah. He pieced out of that project.

Then he sold a large position of his holding to, I believe it's a Warrington, Virginia developer who's going to bring a boutique hotel there in the shadows of the Omni. And instead of doing multifamily, they're going to do a hotel because the margins don't make sense for multifamily. You have projects approved for years in this area that haven't cracked ground. Remember the Hullabaloo? What's the word? Hullabaloo. The Big To Do?

The Big Doo Doo? What's the word? Hullabaloo. The BB&T, the truest bank on Ivy Road? They were going to build an apartment tower. University of Virginia said, don't build that apartment tower. It changes the landscape on Ivy Road. That project hasn't come close to cracking ground. It doesn't pencil out.

There's projects all over the city in Alamaro County, multifamily projects, multifamily housing projects that haven't cracked ground, that have been greenlit, that have been permitted, projects where the developer and the owner has hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of thousands of hours into getting it to this position that have not had a shovel crack the ground. And oftentimes that's due to red tape. I have had on multiple occasions at the desk right next to you, you are privy to these conversations.

People come to me. I don't know. You just don't pay attention to the conversations or you choose not to? I'm generally working. Okay. I can chew gum and walk as well. I'm not sure what that has to do with the price of tea in China.

Fair response. Where folks have said, I got a piece of real estate. It's in this current use right now. I want you to help me take it to the use of it's permitted and what it

can be and then I want to exit to a developer because I don't want to go through the headache of bringing the project to market nor does the client have the skill set to do it. That conversation probably happens once or twice a month. Rent control in Alamaro County.

Jim Andrews, Ned Galloway, Diantha McKeel, Ann Malick, Mike Pruitt, your six Elmira County Board of Supervisors. You need to push back on them and say, dudes, what are you doing? You need to push back on and say, instead of trying to bust out rent control,

maybe you should have been on top of the deal flow in Alamaro County and made a push to try to buy Cavalier Crossing. That would have been actual brick and mortar real estate that they could have used for affordability purposes. They missed the boat on that. And as a result of missing the boat on that,

they're having to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into help for the tenants that are being displaced. Bill McChesney. I just drove to Rutgersville and back yesterday, and I saw a number of multifamily housing units being constructed on the other side of the county line in Greene County. He also says, from ACAC, are city building supervisors dragging their feet with nine-unit building developers because it doesn't fit the NZO narrative. I think the developers are choosing

to stay at nine units or under because the inclusionary zoning requirements of 10 units or more are so absurd they don't want to touch it. They don't want to touch it. You know what I saw on Twitter yesterday? I saw the Jefferson School. I bet you Jordy Yeager's behind this. The Jefferson

School has released a video on the historical significance of Preston Plaza, where Mona Lisa Pasta is, where Styx is, Integral Yoga. They talk the historical significance of Preston Plaza with plots and visual historical elements and how Preston Plaza was the harpy of yesteryear's black neighborhood. They very quickly in the video, very early in the video, highlight that the Preston Plaza owner, Chris Henry, is the same owner of Dairy Market across the way and how Dairy Market has changed the neighborhood. I am very curious if this is the early stage efforts of Jordy Yeager and the Jefferson School to shift the narrative

as it applies to development with Preston Plaza. How so? And what's the end goal? Prevent development. Just like Phase 3 Dairy Market. Interesting. The developer of Dairy Market owns Preston Plaza. Just like phase three dairy market. Interesting. The developer of dairy market owns Preston Plaza,

the shopping center across the way. Yeah. They're trying to forestall any plans to tear that down and build something new on it? Look at it on the Jefferson School Twitter account. I was taken back by it. I think

that's the mission. And speaking of real estate, the next headline, what is it? Put it on screen. Let's see. Is that the UVA real estate headline? UVA and the frats. We were talking about this, Judah and I. Deep Throat and I.

We were talking about this. And maybe this is the skeptic in me but what is the motive behind creating such an unhospitable environment for greek life at uva yeah i mean someone either has a fetish for destroying fraternal life. I think you guys have hit on an interesting angle. What's the motive? I think that interesting angle you guys were talking about is the fact that that's property that UVA

could utilize for whatever it wants if they can just get rid of the fraternities. Is the concept to make life in fraternities and sororities at UVA so arduous and difficult, that Greek participation dwindles and dwindles and dwindles to the point that membership is so bleak and little in numbers that the overhead on these historic mansions cannot be sustained? I mean, barring a better explanation for UVA's animosity towards fraternities, it seems a logical conclusion. Yesterday we talked about Theta Chi's fraternal order of agreement being suspended to 2028-2029, and the fact that the University of Virginia is telling eight to ten brothers in the Theta Chi actual fraternity house that if they choose to live in this house for this semester and next semester, if they live there together, then they

will further punish Theta Chi by suspending their fraternal order of agreement for longer, which keeps them from recolonizing and becoming a fraternity again. The national chapter has said we won't have parties, we won't have pledging, we won't have recruiting or social gatherings, but these 8 to 10... And they've already adjusted the lease to reflect those things. Exactly.

They've put it in writing and had them sign it and their parents. And these eight to ten brothers have said, it's the middle of the year. We're going to be homeless. We have nowhere else to go. You don't own this house nor do you own this dirt

that the house is on. It's off grounds. What are you doing? This is overstep and overreach. And still UVA is trying to put on the brass knuckles and punch them in the kisser. I mean, it begs the question, how all the students in there, would the university intervene? Would the university intervene if these 10 students moved into some other house together?

Is it the fact that they're together or is it the fact that they're in a house owned by the fraternity? I'm curious what the university thinks they're going or is it the fact that they're in a house owned by the fraternity i'm curious what the university thinks they're going to get done here and you you guys made a good point is the end goal here to scare off fraternities so that the the properties come on the market and like you said who's going to buy i don't know what they look like on the inside i do i would imagine well yeah i know i would imagine that they're you know they're built for their pos And like you said, who's going to buy? I don't know what they look like on the inside. I do. Well, yeah, I know. I would imagine that they're built for... They're POSs.

A bunch of guys... To destroy. To live in rooms and to figure out life, to study some... These aren't split-up apartments. No. Well, they're bedrooms. Yeah. They're bedrooms. Yeah. It's a big house with a bunch of bedrooms in it. It's a big house with a bunch of bedrooms in it. That's falling apart. That's falling apart. Big house with a bunch of bedrooms in it. That's falling apart.

I mean, it's just, you know, absolutely. And the question is this. This is the question that I have. Is Virginia, the top school in the Commonwealth, doing this, creating these headwinds for the sole purpose of making fraternity life so unwelcoming that the fraternities themselves dissolve.

Or at least take the charters away from the UVA area. And then the university can take the homes, the mansions over the dirt that is right next to grounds that's incredibly valuable and assimilate it into the growing plans of the school? That's an interesting theory. Is it another acquisition strategy just like spending $22 million on Ivy Square Shopping Center?

Is it another acquisition strategy just like growing down West Main Street, purchasing the Fifeville Mansion, growing down Cherry Avenue, growing into 10th and Page, growing down Ivy Road? Very well could be. And if that's the plan,

I mean, you have a brand and an institution that's backed by a $14 billion enrollment. Billion. $14 billion plus. Endowment. Excuse me, endowment. Thank you. That had one of its lieutenants

interrogating, basically blackmailing one of its lieutenants interrogating, basically blackmailing, one of its ROTC scholarship students. We cover that on the show. And that's seeming more and more like university policy and not just a renegade investigator. Who's going to buy a fraternity house if enrollment, if pledgeship

and membership at the fraternity house diminishes to the point where they have such little numbers that the dues can't sustain the overhead on the antiquated and falling down mansion? Who in the community would buy a 25,000 square foot falling down historical mansion to rehab into a single family detached house? Or to rehab into student housing for UVA students? I can't answer that. The likely purchaser would be the university itself. Good night. Neil Williamson, property rights matter,

even if you are a fraternity. Mr. Williamson, amen, brother. Kevin Yancey, it's not Greek life when's the last time any sorority's been charged with hazing infractions? Kevin Yancey, you're right. It's more the fraternities than the sororities. But I'll tell you right now, if the fraternities fall and crumble, the sororities will follow suit.

Because it's a stool that's, whether it's done in real life or not, capable in real life or not, it's a two-legged stool. You're not going to have sororities without fraternities. What's the next headline? UVA Children's Hospital. You got Dr. Vergales' photo on screen? I don't have it on screen, but I've got it ready to go. He's come on the I Love Seville show. Former neighbor of the family's.

Wife's a great tennis player. He writes a letter to the Daily Progress. This letter was published with his name on it, unlike the anonymous letters that were published by the Daily Progress by the Physicians Group 128. That's my biggest beef with all this is the anonymity. Vergales puts his name on this one.

You got his photo up? I did. Let's put it back on screen. He's got his name on it. He's got his name on it, and I respect it. He says the 128 in the physicians group that are questioning the integrity of the national rankings, the statewide rankings, the regional rankings

for the various departments in the UVA health system, he said, don't touch my children's hospital. He said, I've seen what's gone into the children's hospital getting this number one in the Commonwealth ranking. We've had it for four straight years. And the metrics that back our number one ranking in the Commonwealth for the four straight years are real. They're legit. They're honest. They're authentic. And they're not smoke and mirrors. Yeah. He says the standards that the ranking is based on have been around for far longer than these allegations. And the UVA Children's Hospital has pulled in some wonderful people who are 100% devoted to making the Children's Hospital the best that it can be. And the problems that he says that the allegations of wrongdoing on behalf of UVA Health deserve to be seriously investigated. But the children's hospital is not a part of that sad state of affairs. I thought what he wrote took courage.

Mm-hmm. He put his name on it. Yeah, but you have to admit that he's not writing anything that's going to get him fired. He's basically saying there's merit to what they're talking about. Yeah. But that merit doesn't apply to the children's hospital. Mm-hmm. He's basically saying there's merit to what they're talking about. Yeah.

But that merit doesn't apply to the children's hospital. Mm-hmm. And he put his name on it. Yeah, it's not something that I think most doctors would be afraid of putting their name on. He's saying that the 128 are justified, but not justified as it applies to the children's hospital. Yeah.

You've got a doc on the record saying this stuff is actually happening. I don't know if he comes out and says that in such frank wording. Oh, come on. Took balls to do that. The question is, who do you believe? Who or what do you believe? Who or what do you believe?

I've told the story of our youngest son having a clogged tear duct and how we had surgery at the children's hospital. And 90 minutes before the surgery, we went to a 80 square foot billing office. Had the door closed. Our 22 month old's crying. My wife's crying. And we're told, you need to take care of this bill now. How are you going to pay? And I just hand over my credit card. She gives me an invoice that shows itemized nature of basically a $11,800 bill after insurance, $4,600, $700 out of pocket for us.

We paid it in full. I didn't even look at the bill. And I question, to this day, did I make the right decision by not reading every line item on that bill, especially after this news breaks? Vergala says the Children's Hospital is not a part of this. No. I still want to know why that bill wasn't sent to me in the mail,

and I still want to know why I felt pressure to pay that bill in full 90 minutes before my 22-month-old goes under the knife in a surgical room with strangers in a hospital gown with nurses taking him away from mom and dad while mom's bawling and dad's trying to comfort her. I want to know who you're supposed to believe. And I said from day one on this talk show, when the word trust

is put in jeopardy when it comes to medicine and patient care, trust, when that word is put in jeopardy, you get a situation and an environment that is fragile. What's the next headline? Closing stores. what's the next headline closing stores how do you want to put this in perspective

I think with everything else going on it's scary for local I mean you know Walgreens and 7-Eleven are obviously not local brands, but the people that work there are obviously local. 1,400 Walgreens and 444 with bated breath to find out who those 1,200 stores are going to be. Because as I understand it, they have not announced closings yet, just that there will be closings. Big box brands with huge advantages

are closing their retail locations. How does the one and two unit mom and pop survive that? In this environment? That's a good question. And people making the argument that Walgreens closing and 7-Eleven closing is an edge for the one unit owner. No, it's not.

It's an example of how difficult the climate is. I think that's partially true. 7-Eleven closing and Walgreens closing. Who's that going to help? How many locally owned pharmacies are left? What's it? Top-notch pharmacy? Timberlakes? Are there two pharmacies? I couldn't tell you. There it is. I don't go to pharmacies though. So The Internet is completely... I had this conversation with a soon-to-be client this morning.

If a retail brand... You know who the client is. Soon-to-be client is. We're not going to mention him by name. If a retail brand is not digitalized and social mediized, mobile phonized, its ability to gain market share and sustain is extremely curtailed. Stocking the shelves in 2024 retail is as much about putting widgets on a shelf as it is growing a Facebook page, an Instagram page, and making sure the e-commerce website

is mobile responsive. All praise the almighty convenience. Yeah, that's it. Walgreens and 7-Eleven ain't making it. Home of the slurpy. How does the home of the spud nut make it? How does the home of the Spudnut make it? How does the home of the Gus Burger make it? How does the home of the Parmesan pretzel make it?

How does the home of the Bloomin' Onion make it? Which one? Took it a little too far. That wasback it's very good you know bat crack house yeah um tuesday i don't know there are some places that that manage there are some places that manage for years if not decades and uh i don't know that there's any one metric that, uh, that you can judge or, uh, or expect a, uh, a particular, a particular, uh, business to, to survive or thrive on. There it is. It's the Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville show with me closing on

an encouragement or a suggestion for anything streaming-wise. The Penguin on Max, if you're able to watch The Penguin on Max, I can't believe I'm saying this. It is maybe some of the best piece of content that I...

I can't either, but... But it's not superpower based. I know. It's like real life gritty base. I know. It's basically like underworld crime show. This truly is the dankest timeline for

geeks like me. I mean, Game of Thrones? Who would have ever thought that... You would love the Penguin. You may not actually like the Penguin because it doesn't include the... I mean, I don't need superpowers. That's just like a good story.

But I think it's great that the jock set and a lot of the rest of america have fully embraced uh colin farrell is dynamite he's always been a great actor he's dynamite it's the tuesday edition of the i love sivo show thank you kindly for joining us judah wickauer jerry miller so long everybody Thank you.