The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Batman, Robin, Captain America And A Dark Jedi Were Live On “Real Talk With Keith Smith!”

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Batman, Robin, Captain America and a Dark Jedi were live on “Real Talk With Keith Smith” powered by YES Realty Partners and Yonna Smith! “Real Talk” airs every Friday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Real Talk With Keith Smith” is presented by Charlottesville Settlement Company, LLC, El Mariachi Mexican Bar & Grill, Fincham & Associates, Inc., Free Enterprise Forum, Intrastate Service Co, Mejicali and YES Realty Partners.

Good Friday morning, ladies and Welcome to Real Talk with Keith Smith. An absolute pleasure to be with you here in downtown Charlottie. As superheroes have come together to keep the streets of not only Gotham, but the streets of Charlottesville safe. We're heading into the home stretch of 2025, and what better way to enter the month of March than a celebration of your favorite spandex-wearing Cape Crusaders. You may see me, the boy wonder. You may see Batman. You may see Captain America.

And Alfred, of course, is here. and we've, of course, welcomed somebody that certainly fits our gang of superheroes, the Dark Jedi. Ladies and gentlemen, a lot of fun today on the Friday edition of Real Talk with Key Smith. Alfred is behind the camera. He's replaced Judah Wickhauer, who, of course, is wearing a button-down shirt and denim and a sweater on a 75-degree day somewhere outside of our studio. Alfred, my friend, if you could go to the studio camera and welcome a collection of your favorite superheroes.

viewers and listeners Captain America Batman who's forgot his gloves they're in front of you Batman and the Dark Jedi over here Happy Halloween gentlemen Happy Halloween

I thought he was going to say characters Group of characters cartoon characters This is awesome folks out there This is all about citizens Getting out and vote Getting out and vote

Because why Captain America tell us why elections matter why do they matter why do they matter captain america man of many words we have some contested elections we do

not very many of them we have two in almore county well in terms of the board of supervisors there's one well school board and the school board also which we don't follow the captain america only does the board of supervisors robin likes to follow the school board

yes well i would anticipate robin does. I had actually heard a rumor that Robin's friend Jerry Miller was going to be going out trick-or-treating as the Green Bay Packers coach. But I don't know. I thought it was going to be a Williamsburg-Virginia joke for Robbins. No, but I think he outkicked his coverage. Captain America is also freshly haircuted. I want to compliment Captain America on a fantastic haircut over there. I also want to highlight. uh no he he is he genuinely got it fresh did you not captain america get a haircut chung's is great yeah how i would say in the last 72 hours you got a haircut am i right

you are amazing robin yeah thank you the boy wonder lords from batman but batman the dark jedi is yes this is we've got to speak to the dark jedi so mr jedi oh how would you prefer to be called as long as you call me i don't care yeah dark jedi's got a weapon with him as well, Patman. So tell us about your voting forces. How's the force showing for the voting of folks getting out there? I think people are going to get out there.

Important election this time around. They're all important, but I think this one's made everybody in the nation's watching Virginia and New Jersey. Was it New Jersey? New Jersey had a referendum in California. That's right. That's 100% right. A bellwether election. So nobody's watching New York is what we're saying?

They're watching New York City. They're watching New York City for sure. The mayor's race. The mayorial race in New York City is of interest. But I was reading the Free Enterprise Forum blog recently, and they posted something from a... That author needs a little bit of help. He does political operative,

Democratic political operative said, Virginia's elections aren't really a bellwether, but it does take the temperature of the nature. Really? That's because it happens every year, right? Yeah, we have an election every year. We have an election every year, but this election, which is the first state,

white election, this in New Jersey, that follow an election, a presidential election, is always the case. And historically, with few exceptions, the opposing party wins the gubernatorial seat after the presidential election. So that's statistically proven. That is statistically proven. They are occasional anomalities to that. That word was too big, Captain America for Batman and his lexicon over there. Batman looked at Captain America utterly controlled. fuse right there. No, actually, I was looking at the Jedi Knight. Help me. Help me. Give me a little bit of force on it.

So what did this man just say? Jedi Knight. I mean, it's, it just tells the barometer for what's going on nationally. I think this will be the first election that, as it always is, it just says what's going to happen I think in the midterms next year is leading

into that. I need my back classes. It's a big deal. Do we want to make any predictions. Captain America I think may shy away from this answer over there, but it seems on paper to be pretty clear cut where the top of the ticket is going to go

and it seems on paper pretty clear cut where Almore County is going to go. The only one that I think is a bit unpredictable would be Charlottesville City School Board. I know that is not Captain America's Baileywick. Bayleywick, Alphrine, Baileywick. But that one is the only murky election. I see potentially

Charlestville, Almarrow, and at the top of of the ticket. I think the statewide races, it will be fascinating to see how many split tickets we see. That will be interesting. In the past, for us, non-educated, explain a split ticket. A split ticket is when you pick individual running from different parties for the different roles on the state ticket. There are three positions statewide that are up, which is the Attorney General, the lieutenant governor, and the governor, there have been revelations regarding the Attorney General's text history, candidate, Jay Jones, the candidate for the Democratic candidate. There have been, regardless of what happens in the election, it will be a ground-breaking election

in Virginia. There will be a female governor, whether it's a Democrat or a Republican, in a addition, you have an openly gay gentleman running for Lieutenant Governor. John Reed. And you have a, what would be the first statewide Muslim candidate running for Lieutenant Governor. And that's a, that is of interest. But the one that's getting the most money right now is the Attorney General's race. The Attorney General's race is the talk and toast of political scientists, of political

pundits. of political pontoficators. Did I handle that okay, Captain American? Batman needs to get his cool. I can't understand. There's alliteration right there for Captain American. There's powerful proliferation of alliteration. God, I love you so much, Captain America.

I sincerely mean that Captain America. I only understand words that have bow, Pam, zaping. Bow, bam. You got out a little bit. Get him the Bethesaurus. and his bat hearing aids are coming up. I got a utility boat. How's this for Batman?

Spamberger is going to pal-bam-wack Winsom Earl Sears and a handful of days. Well, first of all, I'll stay out of politics, but Batman's alter ego is a Marine, so I have to support my Marine. That said, you know, all... To be clear for the audience, Winsome Sears, a former Marine.

A Marine. Whoa. A Marine. Yeah, thank you. But you want to make certain. Once a Marine, always a Marine, is what Batman was at. Captain America actually was in the Army. I know that.

It's okay. It's okay, Captain America. But all politics are local, right? So, Jedi Knight, you know, this is a real estate show. And so how do you see, from your perspective, in your Alta Rigo job? How do you see this election? Oh, good Lord, I'm sweating. how this election locally is going to impact the market?

I don't know that things are going to change that much. I mean, Captain America would know more about that than I do, but I mean, I think things are going to keep trucking along the way. They've been going the last couple of years. So I don't really see any major changes as far as the residential real estate goes. Captain America, what do you say going on there? I believe not this election, but the next local election has the opportunity, to change the dynamic on the board.

I believe that if the favorites win, including the one that's running on all those that are running uncontested, the balance of power will not shift. I believe that the new Jack Jewett representative will be very similar to the current Jack Jewett representative with visions of growth and economic development. And I believe the Samuel Miller District, whomever wins will likely continue the path that that seat has held for some time,

which is generally less open to new growth. Samuel Miller District, Scott Smith, Fred Missile, and Scott Smith, a contested election. In the last fundraising reporting cycle, Scott Smith outpaced Fred Missile, still Boy Wonder's prediction is missile, double-digit victory. Scott Smith. Well, that's pretty much a math certainty, right? There's more Democrats in Almar County, and particularly in that district.

I mean, Captain America may know the numbers better than Batman. So it's an uphill battle for the Republican because he's going to have to bring over independence and Democrats. So we shall see, you know, the whole premise of today's show, folks, is get out and vote. Doesn't matter who, get out and vote, do your civic duty. and vote. So, but it's interesting. Nelson County and Louisa, right,

have two contested board of supervisor seats on it. And they've been flying under the radar. Not a lot of people have been talking about that, right? So Nelson County, there's two seats up. And in Louisiana County, there's two seats up, which could potentially change. At least I'm looking at it, I believe, the mineral district and the Mountain Road district.

But am I wrong? No, you're right. Those seats are contested. That's what I was referring to. Right, they're not just the only seats that are up. There's a third seat that's up that's uncontested in Nelson County. Some Rutherford gentleman, I believe. Yeah.

Yeah, that's the whole Rutherford family. I love Jesse. I believe Jesse is actually watching the program right now. But there's a possibility in either one of those jurisdictions that there could be a major shift on the board of supervisors. There could be, and as you get further out, the media coverage is very spotty. Yeah. And it is a question of.

of who you know and who goes out and votes. It is really that simple. In Nelson County, you have one candidate who has been running for about two years, tried to pick up a seat that was open, vacated by someone who had moved up, and he lost that election. I believe that's Jack Trammell, if I'm remembering correctly. And the other, I think, is a three-way race off the top of my head. And three-way races always are interesting because it's not an either-or. It's certainly the math is different there.

So you want to get to, if you want to influence your locality, your vote matters more in your locality than it does anywhere else. And I would lean to the dark night here to tell me about the impact of one vote in a smaller pool versus one vote in a a national pool. This is the Dark Jedi. It's just more numerically significant. I mean, you've got a small pool of folks voting usually, and I mean, a single vote can make a difference.

With the presidential election, you know, if you're not voting with the winning party, I mean, does your vote really even count? You're lost and your vote's more diluted, I think, in a national election. Well, it's interesting because I recall

not so long ago, it may have been a primary but I think it was an election was decided in Charlestville by a coin flip Oh wow Do you remember which one Batman? No I don't But I'm doing numbers because I have a question

But in Green County There was an election I know that was decided by 32 votes That was two cycles ago So I mean you're talking about A thousand voters And if they're evenly split your vote really matters and where it matters particularly as after the election it goes downstream right there are certain decisions that are made by the board of supervisors that can be influenced by a

small majority of folks so it's important it is important folks to get out and vote your vote Please vote. Don't think your vote doesn't matter. It is urgently important because it the local politics and the local governance really runs what we do. We're talking about what's happening at the state level and we're a little bit different because we're a Dillon-Rollstone state makes a big difference. But even on the federal level, local elections, local politics, local folks make a difference every day. And Batman, even if you're busy on Tuesday, Saturday. is the last day to vote in person in advance of the, quote, election day of Tuesday, the 4th. Batman voted early. In person?

And how was that line? Zero. Literally, Batman's alter ego, and his alter ego's wife, went to Flavana County, and voted over by Turkey Sague, walked by the food lion,

walked in at 8.30 to morning, 8.35, we were done. Yeah, there's never anybody at the Fluvana Regist. Which I love because... There's always registrars, but there's not voters. Right, right, right. Comments coming in. Stacey Dudley, Vanessa Parkhill, Skip Hudgens,

Jimmy Evers, Tom Powell, William McChesney, giving props to the program. Rob Neal, Olivia Branch, Kit Ashy, Chris Mead watching the program, Michael Guthrie watching the program, Aaron Moody, watching the program, Bob Shotta, Katie Pearl, Betsy Nuget, Dave Warwick, Election Day is Tuesday,

folks from Nest watching the program. Ladies and gentlemen, Foster watching the program. Yes, Frillity Partners watching the program right now. Lee McLaughlin, fantastic real estate agent for the Wiley Brothers watching the program. A lot we're going to cover. I want to get back to what you guys said, Keith,

that this election cycle Excuse me, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce Wade. Bruce Wayne. Who's Bruce? Okay, I can't call him Bruce. Can I not call him Bruce Wayne? I can only call him Batman? He only can call him Batman? Okay, but we know that Batman is Bruce Wayne. But no, we don't. We don't know Batman as Bruce Wayne? No, of course. Alfred does?

I think Robin just got fired. Robin, the boy Wonder knows that Batman is Bruce? Yeah, but the whole point is... Okay, we're not supposed to tell the world. Okay, fine, okay. Batman. I've been doing this for seven years. The Dark Night, sorry, Dark Night. Somebody once told me.

I'll do push-ups, Dark Night, I'm sorry. Wallsits for Robin, Dark Night, sorry. Wallsits. The question for you, Dark Knight. You and Captain America said that this election cycle, no real impact on local housing. Do we want to unpack that even more? Oh.

You want to tackle that, Captain America? Well, I've got a pretty specific opinion on it. I think that as we look across all the localities, you're seeing different thermostats for acceptance of growth, whether it's by right or in need of special use permits or rezoning. That being said, we are also seeing great economic development, which means jobs for our kids and grandkids, they may be able to stay in this wonderful community.

If you hinder the production of housing and you tweak and increase jobs, I believe the Jedi would have a point for how that impacts the market or not. Employment's the number one driver for residential real estate, And these large corporations that we're so fortunate to have some coming in, and we've already got some here already, they very much look at the quality of life for their employees. If there is no housing for their employees, they're not going to come here. Very interesting.

Nor will they stay here. Batman was part of a chairs and mayors meeting two days ago. And it was very interesting to speak to all the county administrators for the six jurisdictions. Again, back to why local politics matter. we were talking about this wonderful food. Come on, somebody help me. Pharmaceutical. Thank you. Pharmaceutical. Astrozenica? Yeah, coming in.

Those multiple-syllable words hurt him every time, don't that? Batman. Batman likes bam and wham. Batman. Two-suits. Wow. Huh? But so I got, I was asking the administrators for Outmore County, what's the employee net gain at 600?

this is net gain. Just from AstraZeneca. Just from them. Net gain. Yeah, right. And net gain six figures. And that is not the trickle-down effect. Of course.

Those are people that are getting paychecks at that site. It's just a net gain from that facility. Yeah. Right. And it doesn't include... The compound employment impact is kind of what we're looking for here. So there's direct, indirect, and induced, right? So what it doesn't include is all the construction

jobs that are going to take years to build that facility. It's not going to take the job to supporting services after the 600 comes in. So Batman decided to ask a question of everybody in the room. So where are all these people going to stay? And what was the answer to that?

Do we have like a cricket sound? There was crickets. Is that what the answer was? No. They looked at Batman and go, you tell us. And I went, okay. And Batman told them. So And what did Batman say? And what a Batman say? I think

That was rhetorical. We're all on the edge of our seat. Captain America and boy Runder cannot wait for Batman's answer here. Batman's alter ego has been sitting at this seat long enough. I think most of folks know what the answer is. Less red tape, more green tape, right? Make it move along a little bit faster. You shouldn't have to take eight years to get a project approved and move on.

But what it will do is it will increase cost of housing for sure, particularly in the alter ego for our friend Captain America. Oh, Green County. I've equated Green County to what Crozet was 20 years ago. What's coming for Green County? Captain America, a hard swallow right there before he

answered Boy Wonders' pass of the commentary baton. Please push back. There was a bus tour of Green County about two weeks ago now that included the county administrator, the county planning director, planning staff, as well as EMS personnel.

And in that tour, we saw a number of new products that are coming out. There were, I believe there was two supervisors on that trip and two planning commissioners. And it was fascinating. I believe Green County currently in their pipeline, they have about 2,000 units. and I believe Albemarro's pipeline includes about 1,500 units that for a variety of reasons aren't coming out of the ground yet and perhaps the Jedi can explain why a project wouldn't come out of the ground yet if it's a new construction project.

And there's a lot of red tape to get through to get any of these projects off the ground. And funds are, I mean, money's expensive right now for development. So, I mean, sometimes developers will hold on the property and wait for more favorable tailwinds, I guess, is the right way to say it. But, I mean, one thing's for sure. If we don't change what we're doing, everybody's going to have to go stay at the Batcave with you guys because there's not going to be a place for anybody to live. I could have asked the question if the Batcave was part of an HOA or not.

What was the answer to that question? If it was part of the HOA, historically, it would show the median values of HOA bat caves sell at a higher clip than H-O-AW. that Bat Caves not tied H-O-S. I just want to say the Batcave has perhaps the best gated community ever. So what Batman said to the person... Boy Wonder is no longer tied Captain America to that gated community, but he still respects the Zing, Bam, and Powell from Captain America right there.

So Batman's answer to the person was, so how much you want to pay? So I've been dying to ask this question of... the dark night and the dark night's alter ego Batman has been following the single-family detached only sales across all the jurisdictions new construction no townhomes right no condos in it the city of Charlottesville I don't have the numbers as of today but as of last Friday year over year was 6.1% down so there was the single-family detached homes in Charlottesville. In value or numbers? Value. Thank you. Median

values. Numbers are also down too, by the way. But value is down. And Batman doesn't understand why. Oh, I can tell you why. I know Robin can, but I'd like the Dark Knight to share his force and his energy this way. I was going to say Smith, but so

Batman can answer a better... Well, the market's not depreciating as a whole. What I can tell you is that whenever you run statistics like you're running them, you bring everything. to that. And what happens is if you have a group of properties that happen to be maybe sub-median, then that'll drag the whole thing down. So that very much could be what's going on. I mean, in our work, in our office, we've not seen any significant depreciation in any of the suburban or

urban markets. So as a rule, it's not doing it. It's interesting because when, when the- So you're saying his data across the board, his 2025 data across the board, which shows single-family detach existing and new construction in Charlottesville, The new construction is extremely limited, being down 5% of median value, 6% call it year over year, is a statistical anomaly tied to a handful of properties bringing down the median. I wouldn't say it's a handful of properties, but if the prevailing winds are mostly lower-priced property than they were last year, then that will drag it down just numerically.

And thank you, Dark Night, not Dark Night, you're Dark Jedi. Yeah, you're the Dark Night, actually. Yeah, I'm the Dark Night. Yeah. Well, I'm a bit schizophrenic, so yeah, there you go. But, but does it make you two phase? I was trying to, I was trying to get it because the pool is small, right?

Right? So when you look in that... Pool is not that small. It's relatively small. How many units in Charlottville, median value 2025? I don't have the numbers in front of you, but I can tell you, I understand that, but I can tell you green and Fulvana and some other jurisdictions have the same volume of sales, if not more, right? So the pool is a rather small. So what you're

saying is there has been a larger impact, on lower price, homes, transacting, which is skewing the median price. It's quite possible. I've not run the data to look at it the way you're looking at it. But if I was going to run that, I would want to just dig into it a little bit and just see. Well, can I respectfully push back on the Dark Jedi? Go for it. Dark Jedi, neighboring jurisdiction, Amarro County in the same period of time with the same

housing stock is up back of the napkin? Oh, God, it was double digits, 20%, something like that. How does the neighboring jurisdiction, are we going to say the baseline or the sample size and neighboring jurisdiction in Amar County is larger, which means that a handful of sales has less of it impact on median value? Very much so. I mean, it's all about numbers. I mean, statistically, when you're looking at trending the way you guys are talking about it, the more numbers you've got, the more it normalizes and gets rid of all the errors and the data.

And most people don't buy a house of 24 and sell in 25. True. Right. So it's different product. You have different regulations really in place. You have different age of stock between those two localities. Generally speaking, Albemarle County stock tends to be younger than Charlottesville stock. But you're complaining, comparing Charlottesville to Charlottesville, and it's just such a small segment of units that it can be thrown off by just a handful.

and the reason it's important for Batman is is people that are in Batman's alter ego's industry that's how they look at this well and and respectfully if I can push back with the entire Cape Crusader contingent here if if we have median values down in 2025 for Charlottesville City verse 2024 and you said back in the napkin at 6% and and we're going to say this could be a statistical is it aberration you know, is that, you know, influenced by a handful of sales. All right. Can I just say this?

Then why is it also the case that sales tax collection revenue is down, tourism tax collection is down, lodging tax is down, meals tax is down, foot traffic is down on the downtown mall. All the budgeting levers are now. I mean, look, Jerome Powell just dropped everything a quarter percent. Why is he doing that? Because we have a soft labor market. What happened to the mortgage rate?

We've got expensive, no one has extra income to do anything. I mean, if you've got kids, you want to take them to the downtown mall and do something, it's way more unaffordable now than it's ever been. And wages are not keeping up with it. So, I mean, we don't have a government open right now to give us the labor numbers, but the labor pool is very, very weak right now. And, you know, I think it's affecting everybody. I think confidence is down for the consumers.

I mean, a lot of those things will contribute to it. But, I mean, taking the kids to the movies, man. I mean, last time we went to Alamo, which is a great theater, we spent almost $200. Good night. It was a good night. That was a lot of food there. Well, I mean, you got four people eating, you know, $25 a meal, and he was going to spend almost $100 for tickets. So, you know.

So Jedi Night, my hope is that I'll still be able to sit in this seat about a year from now. I think if we take a look at a two-year window and the number, and the number, numbers are still going down. I think that's a trend. Would you agree with that? Could be. I mean, the condition really matters in residential real estate right now. And Charlottesville has a lot of older housing stock like Captain America just alluded to. And, you know, maybe we've got more properties selling that are in lesser condition than, you know, what they were a year ago. I'll push back a little bit. You guys are more bullish on this storyline than I am. And I respect you guys tremendously. You know I do.

I just, you know, when the budgeting levers in Alamara County are all up across the board, tourism, meals tax, lodging, sales tax, real estate values, and the neighboring jurisdiction, they are all down. That seems to me concerning. I understand until we have a larger data pool, maybe it's not concerned. Keep an eye on your assessments as they come forward. Oh, man, that meeting we had with the mayors and chairs, that's all they talked about. keep an eye on those assessments as they come forward. And city or the county? Both across the board.

Well, I would imagine in the city, they've got to pump a real estate tax rate increase. I would imagine that's what's going to happen. And from an assessment standpoint, I would imagine in the city, and this is definitely up Dark Jedi's Island right here, assessments in Charlottesville City, I would think would be flat or potentially down a couple of points. and if they're flat or down a couple of points when every Tom Dick and Harry and the city wants more money, they're going to have to pump the tax rate up.

Yeah, I mean, both the assessor's offices and both Alba Morrow and the city, they do a really good job. I mean, they really do try to get to market value, and I know most of the staff in both offices. I mean, they're the consummate professionals. But yeah, that's exactly what, you know, the county and city managers don't want to talk about

is the fact that they have to, if they need to have a budget issue, they're going to have to adjust the tax rate. You know, it's not on the assessor to try to go one way or the other. Which never happens. Yeah, I mean, government does it ever. It's always bloated. Some jurisdictions I've reduced costs.

Only one I've seen is Nelson County do that. That would be so. So county just did this, four cents, by the way. The increase of four cents over the increase above and beyond the increase in the assessment. Right. The way the assessments went up in the county, I'm shocked they needed to go up at all. Well, but that was to take as they sold it. that that was to take care of the public safety.

Fire rescue. Fire rescue. Basically, there's this thing called the safer grant that comes out of FEMA that is going to be sunsetting. But it provides you full funding for firefighters for four years. That's to get them into and then it goes down to 80% and then 50% and then it goes away. And boy wonder saw that as a little bit of PR branding smoke and mirrors to help the constituency, the taxpayer. As smoke and mirrors, please. The taxpayers and the voters digest a 4-cent tax rate increase.

And then you've got to equip them. So like a new fire truck. But most of these were replacement for volunteers. The equipment existed. Yeah. And a sliver for housing affordability. A couple of crumbs. Well, Batman is an advocate of that.

But I want to go back to what the Dark Night, the Dark Jedi was talking about. if you're in the marketplace right now because his alter ego has helped Batman's alter ego do some appraisals on homes which is awesome when we're trying to list and we end up sinking on the same number here on it but the condition is super important in today's environment

and today's buyer's condition is super important so I was wondering from your perspective looking at homes from appraisal perspective We know location matters, price matters, features matter, condition, and we'll go into timing and who's on the other side matters. But right now, what we're seeing at all price levels, if you don't hit those first four, the house just sits. Right. So is condition that important in today's market from your perspective? It's important and it's going to become increasingly more important because as the market is normalizing back, whatever normal looks like post-COVID,

We're seeing days on market lengthen out. We're seeing more competition on the market because of it. It's supplying demand economics. So if you've got more supply out there, then buyers can be more choosy. So I think everybody seems to think after the first of the year, we're going to be closer to 6%, the lower than 6% on the 30-year mortgage. You know, I think we got a better chance of winning the lottery than predicting that going forward. Yeah, but the turmoil and the federal government right now,

I don't know anybody can make a clear call on that. Well, what? Powell lowered it, and 30-year mortgage rate went up. Yeah. Right? So my fall- Well, it's the same day that they announced 14,000 job laid off at Amazon and then 2000 at Paramount Studios.

Yeah. So the question we get asked all the time is if we start hitting some threshold, is that changing the market dynamics? It's just keeping the market dynamics the same as they are now, and it's just a cheaper, it's a little bit cheaper money. How does that look from your perspective? I mean, it's going to come down also to consumer confidence, too. I mean, there's not a lot of positive stuff coming out of the federal level right now.

And consumers, when they do that 180 thing on, you know, X or Twitter or whatever we're calling it these days, I mean, they have a very short attention span. So they're getting all this negativity out of, you know, the major news outlets and social media. And I just think we're going to start seeing consumer confidence becoming even worse. And I think that's going to, it's going to lessen most folks's appetite for buying. So sometimes Batman and Robert don't see eye to eye on things. Go figure. Well, you make him dress that way.

I wouldn't like you either. The things we do for Batman, ladies and gentlemen. But we love Batman. We love Batman. And as you should. Yeah. So the, for Captain America, right, so let's just lay this on the table, right? We've got 600 jobs coming in.

we've got 600 is light light right 600 direct jobs yeah 600 six figure plus jobs and that doesn't even include the the biotech institute that doesn't even include if there's going to be any trickle over for Eli Lilly some people are

don't forget about the 200 jobs that are coming from the other announcement that was made twice by the outmar county folks of expansion of Afton Scientific which garnered an appearance from Glenn Yonkin because of the second bite of the app. Yeah, because it was so significant.

And it fed into the biotech quarter that they're trying to. I think we should start branding it as a man who has a way with words, Captain America, who in another life probably would come be birthed as a word smith. Why don't we start dubbing it the biotech beltway? The biotech beltway, where Almaro County is the foundation of the biotech beltway, that Yonkin is saying links rocking. County to Richmond. But there's an additional inbound force that we're not talking about, and it's what Batman's alter ego is. It's the boomers coming into our market at such a rate.

They've always come in, but they're coming in at such a rate with such a capital. You're pushing back a little bit, sir? No, I just see people that come to the University of Virginia have a great time, and either they stay here or they move away and then they come back. And those sandbaggers, I tell you, they really, carpetbaggers is the term. They don't live where they grew up. There's a big difference between.

Even Batman knew that one, yeah. But the idea that we have this kind of pent-up demand of UVA alumni that want to make Charlottesville their final home. So Batman is going to push back. Okay. There is an additional layer to that. You're seeing that. but I can tell you Batman

Alta Riga leaves at Lake Monticello. There are so many New Yorkers that have no relation to the or northeast. That's always been the case at the lake. They have billboards in New York for the development. They keep the gates at the lake

to keep you Yankees at the lake. And came down. But, you know, so we've got these jobs coming in, high dollar jobs. We've got people coming back

or people retiring here with gobs of cash our pool of where they're going to stay isn't increasing and I'm why isn't it but man isn't smart that smart but Batman is smart enough to know if I got

a pool of this and I got all this coming to it this pool is just going to get harder to buy and more expensive and this pool of houses that are available are going to even be more difficult because you got some lock-in effect that are pulling stuff off of the market, right? You've got folks that don't have to move.

Some folks that have built homes that they're going to age in place, right? So the market really isn't as robust as everybody thinks it is right now because it has to hit all those six things. But back to why it isn't, I'll let Captain America explain that and maybe the dark Jedi can jump in. In Albemarle County, the reason is because of a government-created, scarcity that restricts development to less than 5% of the land mass of Albemar County. And the reason that it's less than 5%, there's an 800-acre parcel in the center of the development area.

Biscuit Run. Biscuit Run, that at one point was going to have 1,200 homes in it and now has zero. Yeah, bad timing when that development came to market. Good timing for tax credits from the Cain administration. yeah actually when I started doing conservation easement reviews that was the first case study I got to work on when I got to the state banker's box is full of stuff so you actually did the conservation study on that I did not it was before me but that's what they handed me to learn how to do my job

oh really it was very interesting to see how the state that's that would be a huge project I was actually there when the governor made the announcement up at Monticello for that that easement and I was the only one that was unhappy about it Let me ask you this question. So how are we going to solve? Captain America. And Captain America and one of your best friends who is a very respected man in this community, Neil Williamson. Captain America, you have a great buddy there.

You guys have been campaigning and championing for expanding the development area for as long as I've known you, Captain America, a very long time. Unsuccessfully. Probably one of the things that keeps Captain America most up at night, if there is something. is probably the development area, because Captain America's whole thesis is, if the development area isn't expanded, then price points will continue to rise. Affordability will not be there, and that's going to have a dramatic impact on the entire free enterprise that we call Charlottesville, Almar County, in Central Virginia. And has huge economic and environmental impact. Yeah, yeah, right, urban sprawl, we have green impact. Okay, we all know this. There's been one party in total control of Almar County for as long as I've been here for 25 years. And if there's been one party in total control of Almore County for 25 years, why?

And this party is a party that, all intents of purposes, backs density. Why hasn't this happened? Because they want to stay in office. I mean, their constituents don't want it, so they're not going to do it. Voters matter. And voting matters. And the one party that you speak of that has full control of the Alamar County Board is split 3-3 on this idea. Mike Pruitt wants it.

Mike Pruitt wants it. Sally Duncan wants it. So Duncan wants it. Ned Galloway's on the fence. On the fence. Leanshorshood, in my opinion. Okay, on the fence. And so the other three are opposed.

And we have this beautiful six-person board where you have to get to four to make anything happen. Malick said no way. Why is that a bad thing, Captain America? Yeah, because Ties mean no. And some people would say, Ties me no is still a great form of governance because it's going to have to persuade somebody to come to the yes side. It's an unfair form. I don't think. It gives the no vote an extra vote.

Tomato. Oh, okay. Tomato tomato over there, Batman. uh, missile. Steedstead. How do you think missile's going to play out with this? I believe he will be a thoughtful, uh, supervisor who will wrestle with this issue. I'm hopeful that he will, based on his time working in the industry, uh, see the light

and move forward with an idea of expanding the development area. But Captain America, his constituents in the Samuel Miller district do not want that, Captain America. Well, you know, those folks, those folks in. the Ivy and other areas that are the most rural in Albemarle need to wake up and smell the coffee and say, hey, we need to have people living here so our kids can live nearby. Otherwise, they're going to be living in the basement. Well, I mean, the thing is...

Boy wonder is working on that now. These rural areas, though, are not in the development corridor. So, I mean, if they would just come over to the other side and allow the development corridor to be developed... Oh, from the dark side. It would help. I mean, I'm not a politician. I can't pretend like I know what their job is like, but it seems pretty black and white. Well, if there are 600 jobs coming at a buck 25 each, minimum.

No, buck 25 is the average. The average. It's the average. And they have spouses that generally will be making somewhere in that range. Well over the median household income. Well over the median household income and they can't find the house they want in the development area. Where will they go? They're going to make Green County Crozee.

Or? What? Spraw. What are you going to say? one acre lots in the rural area. That is a very interesting thing. I had a conversation with Batman's alter ego's board of supervisors on how that migration is going to happen. That is where the market's going to go because if you don't control, the control is a big word,

but if you don't structure the location and put what you're saying in the development areas, it will go somewhere. and it will go to either the 21 lots and in Fulvana County you can take any parcel divided into five lots and it's just going to happen that way what it will do is it'll drive down property values because the farmer who's trying to sell their 100 acres

isn't going to get the same amount of money as if you could do a cluster development or something else in it. Or it's just going to just drive more equity for everyone who's a homeowner currently. And it's currently a voter. And that would be why they would be opposed to expanding the development.

Exactly. We're going to end up, Lake Jackson Hole, if we keep going the direction we're going, and that our 9 to 5 workers and our nurses and our teachers and our police officers are going to have to drive an hour every day to come to work. First of all, I think an hour's light because they're doing it now. But literally growing up in Loudoun County, I would watch the West Virginia plates drive into Fairfax County because they couldn't live there. But Vanessa Parko, wise words from the Jedi, very wise words.

But the force is strong with that one. Batman's going to take a little bit of a higher road on this. We're actually having the discussion at the board level about this. A few years ago, that was like taboo. That never came up. Is that a fair statement? I came up. Here's what I've said all the years.

They're having the discussion about when they're going to have the discussion. That is useless. Okay. Well, I'll tell you what. Do you have an opinion on this? Captain America, I will say, this, that the density and zoning and development area

expansion proponents are going to lose their captain or their flag carrier if Mike Pruitt is elected into the 5th District. He's running for Congress. If he has a chance to win this and on paper he's a huge underdog because he's a Democrat

running in a very red district the 5th. But if he were to win and his fundraising is off the charts, I believe he's actually watching the program. His fundraising is absolutely off the charts. Props to Pruitt here. Props to Pruitt. That could be his tagline. But if he gets a seat in the 5th, that goes a long way with the development

area not being expanded. That may or may not happen. You don't know who replaces him. That being said, Mike Pruitt is a smart guy. Yeah. He's a smart guy. I really appreciate the way that he explains his votes, as did his predecessor.

Donna Price. And I think that the board is thoughtful. I feel as though the Board of Supervisors in Alba Morrow is torn between what I believe they know intellectually is right and what is politically right. But they have to go with what's politically right. That's what put them on the board. I mean, I'm going to be the idealistic person at the table, I think. But, you know, that's BS. What, you think that's BS?

No, I mean, what you're saying is true. But to have that attitude, you're there to serve your county. Do the right thing. Don't worry about getting reelected. But, of course, that never happens. So it depends on who gets on the board what their future political aspirations are, right? So if their aspirations are, I'm just going to do four and out, then they'll be a little bit more aggressive. If their aspiration is to stay a little longer? It's a tough job, man. You know, you've got to negotiate with four or six or how many other different folks.

It is a tough, tough job to do. So I hate bashing on elected officials. sometimes they don't go the way I'd like them to go They volunteer for it I respect the fact that it's a hard job I will push back on elected officials that don't think that the job's a 40-hour job

then we've got a problem but it is a 40-hour job onto itself but in Green County one of the pushbacks at this chairs and mayors meeting was the impact on the Green County school systems of all this development and Batman may have made a mention of a number, and I would love Captain America to kind of expand

on a little if you could. Year over year, they've lost 1.3% in students. So is Green County school system declining or increasing? The school systems in Green County, based on the last report that the Free Enterprise Forum did, saw them close to flat, slightly decreasing, as I recall. Charlottesville decreasing significantly, albumarly increasing. Nelson County decreasing to an extent you couldn't believe huge numbers right well by percentage but remember they have a much smaller system

yeah the the thing that we're finding in green county with new home buyers is that these new home buyers at the price point and with the features that they have tend to be no kids kidless yeah and you know empty nesters as as we refer to that as dinks those without kids tend to be less costly to service as a government. Right. I have sense. Schools is the number one light item in any budget. Augusta County and Batman's alter ego had a conversation with the planning director out there.

Huge influx of boomers, union influx of retirees. Their focus is not on schools, but on the health care system. Yes. And you will see in the next two weeks or three weeks in Green County, a favorite watering hole is going to close and there's going to be a nurse practitioner opening up on urgent care right on 29. Which one is that?

That's the What's the name of that? It's the Dutch pantry Is moving up to the, is moving up 29 toward the Albemar County line on the right side in what was a country store previously. It was an antique store most recently. Green County is losing Dutch pantry?

Dutch pantry is going to be on the Green County line of the, it's just inside green. Okay. But it's on the right side of 29 now, not the other side. So it's just before you get to raise Ford Road. But it will be moving. But the point in that is that that nurse practitioner sees a need for an urgent care facility. I've heard this from folks in Fluvana.

They want an urgent care facility because if you have kids don't get sick at regular hours, according to Robin, they usually get sick at night. And if you weren't in Fluvana County, you want to go to the doctor in the middle of the night. you're going to Richmond, Fredericksburg, or Charlottesville? So can't say Batman can't go into great detail, but there's a potential that happened

in Fulvana County. There's always potential. Well, there's negotiations going on to that Batman's aware of. So it is as a Fulvana resident that's desperately needed. I haven't had a Boy Wonder hasn't had an opportunity to ask the Dark Jedi and Captain America

about a little bit of clarity and closure with the city of Charlottesville and the new zoning ordinance now that a lawsuit has been tabled a traffic study has been agreed upon and I guess we have clarity on what could have been a soap opera well into 2026 and beyond anyone I want to offer commentary on that I'll defer to you you pay more attention to that than I do the the I was in a meeting two and a half weeks ago Neil Williamson was at a meeting two and a half weeks ago where they were asking, neighborhood development staff was asking,

is utilizing a consultant to talk about the changes needed to the news orny ordinance because there are changes needed. It's supposed to be a living document. They wanted minor changes. I, of course, gave major changes. The discussion at the dais that was most interesting and not on the agenda,

and it was at the very end of the meeting, most recent city council meeting, this is why you've stayed at the end. was about the New Zoning Ordinance, and it was fascinating. One counselor suggested the New Zoning Ordinance hasn't really had a chance to do anything yet. We don't want to make any adjustments to it. And she was very clear in her position that we need to give it time without this cloud of uncertainty of the lawsuit to do what it could do. others thought it was time to act

to perhaps change the height regulations they've been hearing from the public about concerns of two particular sites Lloyd's snook came forward and said you may remember when we were discussing this in the first place I said we do five stories by right

anything additional is a special use permit that didn't carry the day he said maybe we want to revisit that So now that's going to be on the agenda for the work session, no public comment, on November 18. That's Councillor Snook's way of saying, I told you so. That's basically what that is. That's counselor Snook's way of saying that. And what Captain America is referencing is the student apartment tower above West Haven,

where West Haven residents are completely galvanized and opposed to this. And another one for, is it Fifeville, the Cherry Avenue quarter? Yeah, I think it's 7th Street. Yeah, 7th Street as well. And it's important to recognize that the residents of West Haven are also in the midst of a $14 million investment by the city to redevelop that area. But that's where those towers should go. That's the corridor closest to grounds and the gateway to downtown, Midtown, and UVA. We knew that the development was going to happen on the most affordable parcels of dirt.

and there are those that will remind you that West Haven was created to have a place to put those that were out put from urban renewal that was known as Vinegar Hill. Right, right, right. Batman, you want to... I just want to kind of shift a little bit here. Do we have any comments from... Oh, we do, but go ahead, Batman.

You don't want to lose that thought right there. Yeah, well, Batman has a little bit of ADD. Look, I'm going back to... You know, Batman tends to keep things simple, right? I'm going back to the 600, the additional jobs that are coming in, the influx that's coming in here. And I'm wondering, these are large entities, large companies. I'm wondering what was the decision matrix on where there are people going to live. Has that been discussed?

And then the second part of that is back on the city end of it in the discussions that you saw to city council, which I didn't attend, virtually or in person. Was there anything talking about the back end of it, working on the site plan? There was discussion on the part of the site plan from one major developer who had a project that ended up not happening. He indicated that the process was broken. I also raised the square footage with regard to stormwater, which is something that was supposed to be discussed at CityScape on. Tuesday night that

those of you who have all tried to watch this Planning Commission meeting it wasn't videotaped as far as I can tell or if we would call it that recorded but I think that there is an awareness that that back end is an issue. That one

simple change so for those of us that are not geeking out on that the state allows you to go up to 10,000 square feet of disturbed area the city of Charlotte Falls at 6,000 my numbers right? 6,000 square feet fee. So that is anything really over a couple

of units require a major site plan. This is underground an S plan. Underground storage. It's hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars of expense. If they would change that simple rule, they would start getting some housing affordability.

Just that one rule. And when you don't have to do the full plan, you can do an agreement in lieu of. And that agreement in lieu of is much more amenable and the environmental protections are still there, it's just a matter of not having to have it all sketched out. What that does is that gives the city actually more teeth. That agreement is more restrictive than having to go through the whole process. But it's literally hundreds

of thousands of dollars of expense. But Dark Jedi, you know, we're going to have this influx of people. Where are they going to go? I don't. I don't. I am perplexed about how we're going to have this many multiple six-figure jobs coming in. We know where they're going to go. They're going to go where the existing housing stock is, which is then going to squeeze folks that are lower on the pay scale out of that stock that they were pursuing right now. But they're not coming on the market, and the Dark Jedi might help me with this. They're not coming on the market in such a volume to make this happen.

I just don't see the two correlating. Does that make in any sense? I mean, it's going to end up being a bumpy road for some of these corporations. Like I said earlier, you know, the quality life for the employees are not going to be great because, I mean, you can't just push people out immediately. It's going to happen. And what you're saying is going to happen. So I'm thinking these corporations are going to put pressure.

Something is going to have to happen because if all of a sudden I'm spending billions of dollars on a facility and I can't, you know, if, Captain America's alter ego wants to go work for one of these companies and he can't find a place to live he ain't going to come I mean the

so how am I filling my jobs the jurisdictions and the catbirds am I simplifying as my father would say would be our rural counties that surround us you know but Fluvana's not going to do anything and Green County I can tell you because Green County's done 2,000 units they're pump of the branks after the two guys

I mean Captain America might push back but I think once they finish what they've got, I think it's going to be really hard to get something passed and approved. But the more important point is the builders and developers aren't building and developing homes for these multiple

six-figure things. They're building them for us, for me, for the boomer on it. I see your point. I think that what's going to happen is they're going to take a little drive. Remember, these are high-paying jobs. They're going to take a little drive,

and they're going to find a place, you know, maybe out in ivy with a swimming pool and say that's nice. But if it's not on the market, they'll knock on the door. Oh, it's always on the market. They'll leave a note, and they'll say, how much, and here's my card. There you go. And I will tell you, that will happen. Yeah, sure. And it will.

But not at those numbers. You're going to see displacement of current Albemarle residents because it's all about the money. So you just, he's 100% right. You just went where I've been trying to go. So if you are sitting on the Altenmore County Board of Supervisors and you're worried about your 5% and now you have all this coming in here and you don't expand that, your people will be displaced.

And I'm not talking about lower income folks. These are going to be middle to upper income folks that are going to get forced out of the market because they're not going to have a choice but to move out. But anyway, Batman's on a bit of them. There's another option too. I mean, open up some more of the development corridor or make a special tax district out of it,

charge more taxes for the folks that are going to live in the new area. I mean, the city of Suffolk did it when I was in the assessor's office there. Create a service district, provide more services. That was the whole idea of the development area when it came about back in 1979, which I think was the Carter administration.

It was. And they haven't really significantly changed the line sentence. There's two big holdups for Alamark County, in my opinion. One is the 5% and the second. is they've, and Batman's alter ego was involved in this, they didn't quite hit the bowl out of the park in the development incentives. And Batman's alter ego meets with presidents of the largest development building companies, and they are not coming to Almar County.

Well, the exact answer is, I can do five times the amount in Richmond and any other area. And a much more frictionless process. 100%. But AstraZeneca employs 80,000 people, worldwide. While these 600 are going to be needing housing, they're going to find a way to make that happen.

100%. Yeah, these people are going to lose. And that's going to be writing checks to them. Or to the Miller family for a home. It's 100% what's going to happen. 100% across the board, it's going to happen. So what is the feed saying, sir? So comments come in and we'll get as many as possible, knowing that I can't

really see out of this mask right now. William McChesney says, Neil, or Captain America, West Haven was supposed to be transitional and not permanent housing on the West Hamid commentary. This comments come in, maybe AstraZeneca will be like Facebook and build a campus

that includes employee housing and desirable services. Not zoned for that. Yep. Yep. I was going to say that. It's not zone for that. And the county won't do that because they're looking to bring in more entities such as that to grow up. It has to be off campus. This comes in from Jennifer.

Absolutely the folks we put into office should be voting based on our ideology that placed them into office. So a little pushback over there on Mr. Fincham, or excuse me, the Dark Jedi. This comment's coming in, goodness there's a lot of coming in. Lori is

watching. Nothing says that they aren't going to hire within the area. Some of those people already live here. So she says maybe AstraZeneca is going to be hiring within the area and the 600 jobs are not going to be from out the area. I'm going to push back on that because I ask that's a very specific question. And

most of the folks are going to be coming from outside in. Very few people from inside of. The folks that are targeting, many have, as one whose daughter, thank God for her mother, has a chemistry Ph.D. are going to have advanced degrees in chemistry

and polymers and the like that aren't currently in this region. And I believe your wonderful daughter lives in the Boston area. She has moved. She is now a research professor at Stony Brook University. Oh. Stony Brook, Long Island.

Stony Brook, Long Island. In Southampton? That campus? No, it's in Stony Brook. It's Stony Brook. She lives in East Sotakit. Okay, fantastic. Look at her.

Fantastic. That's a great area. So where's her actual job located? It's at Stony, she teaches two undergrad classes, and she has a research lab where they're pursuing some pretty cool stuff. Isotaket to stuff? That's not a bad drive. No. Not a bad drive at all.

Ladies and gentlemen, or excuse me, Cape Pratt. Crusaders at the 125 marker. How about some closing commentary? Because I believe Captain America's escape vehicles parked in a one-hour slot and Captain America does not want to get dinged

the $2 for the additional hour to get his escape vehicle out of the Captain America. I mean, Batman doesn't look like he's got any room for a wallet. Believe me. I have no room. I don't want to look over there, frankly. No, trust me. Nobody wants to see that. Captain America, your thoughts over there.

There. Please vote. It is more than a civic duty. It really is an honor, and it makes us different than the rest of the world in many ways. Your vote matters, and your vote matters more this election than it does in a presidential election. Go out and vote, whether you vote today, tomorrow, or on Tuesday. The lines will be short. Go and vote. dark Jedi your costume is fantastic by the way I appreciate it I can't say anything any better than what Neil just said I mean we've got a lot of things that we need to fix here in the local area and hopefully we can

get some momentum going in the right direction you know I want to see folks that part of our workforce being able to remain here and not being pushed out so if you've been first of all thank you everybody for putting up with me making you get dressed in

in spandex and other things, you know, it's a testament to how you guys think about me. So I thank you for... After seeing you in spandex, you'll never catch me on it. Well, I was thinking maybe under, but maybe not. Batman, it's because we love you.

Thank you. Thank you. But if you've been listened to any part of this conversation, pro-con, pushback, non-pushback, local elections matter, local politics matter, right? And if you want to be influence the local politicians' decisions, you've got to vote first, then show up. It can't be just only Captain America showing up to all these meetings.

I believe that he has lots of seats available in every one of his events that he goes to. You mean seats are available? That's unbelievable. Seats are available? Unbelievable. Something about a hashtag, do I got quite sure what that is. Captain America, will you wear your Captain America garb in gear to a meeting? Negative ghost, right?

The pattern is full. But please, get out there and vote, guys. That's what this whole show was about, and the front was about, vote. It's easy to do it. You got until the end of Sunday, Saturday. Saturday, close a business on Saturday, 5 o'clock, something like that. Go out and vote. Your vote matters, and show up to meetings and make your voice heard.

Regardless of your position, make your voice heard. Captain America, Batman, Dark Jedi, Alfred, behind the camera. Yours truly the boy wonder. This was truly a joyful, you know, experience. It is the Friday edition of Real Talk with Key Smith, where the show is archived at real talk with Keith Smith.com. It's Halloween. So when you're out in your Batmobiles this evening, be careful. There's tiny tykes, including the Boy Wonders, Tiny Tikes, out with mask on, limited visibility, hunting for candy, much to the chagrin and perhaps

disappointment of Boy Wander and Boy Wonders' Better Half. This is going to be a crazy evening for the Boy Wonders family as their tikes are hopped up. These kids are going to be bouncing off for sugar. Very much looking forward to that. Alfred, thank you very much. The I-Lubeel show guys at 1230. So long. Thank you, everybody.

Very well done. Gentlemen, we have to get a photo. And then Captain America, we're going to get you out the door.