The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Cherry Ave Low Barrier Shelter Unlikely, Here's Why; Where's The Money Going W/CVille City Schools?

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Cherry Ave Low Barrier Shelter Unlikely, Here’s Why… Where’s The Money Going With CVille City Schools? No Cell Phone Policy In VA Public Schools In Effect Who Should Be Next Chair Of AlbCo Republican Party? Shoplifting Becoming An Issue With Local Retailers Snook Pushing For PILOT From UVA Entrepreneur Travis Wilburn Interview Tomorrow UVA Basketball At Lowest Point Since 2009 Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live 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 Monday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Civo show. A pleasure to connect with you guys in downtown Charlottesville, where still the sidewalks and the parking spaces are treacherous and, frankly, unable to utilize. What is the plan here? Charlottesville, we've held you accountable all last week long. We thought something would materialize over the weekend with the clearing of parking spaces and, frankly, the better clearing of sidewalks, but still it is dangerous in downtown Charlottesville with ice and snow accumulated in parking spaces and along sidewalks managed by the city. I am shocked. A lot we're

going to cover on today's program. We'll talk about a low barrier shelter on Cherry Avenue that has gotten, headwinds is an understatement. The likelihood of a low-barrier shelter and a Salvation Army thrift store managed by the Salvation Army is now no more. Mark Van Meter, who is the head of the Salvation Army here in Charlottesville, said, hey, you know what?

I did not check with our national organization, and we cannot run a low barrier shelter in our building on Cherry Avenue. We cannot do this. If we were to do this, we would have to drug test people, give them background checks, make sure they're not abusing drugs, drunk, make sure they're not criminals, have them pass a breathalyzer, basically the antithesis of a low barrier shelter. Basically what we already have. Basically what we already have. So here for the last couple of months, Major Mark Van Meter, including on this network

with Greer Achenbach on the Downtown Spotlight, a fantastic interview done by Greer. Greer, the executive director of Friends of Seville, we're going to be meeting with her here at our office. I'm looking at my calendar on Thursday morning. She did a heck of a job with Major Mark Van Meter on her show. Greer, I sincerely mean that. You have fantastic talent for hosting talk shows. She spotlighted Mark Van Meter, the major of the Salvation Army,

who came up with the idea of a low barrier shelter on Cherry Avenue in his thrift store, converting the thrift store to a low barrier shelter where the houseless in our community that had problems with drugs and alcohol, even the houseless in our community that were registered sex offenders, could have a place to sleep through the winter, during inclement weather, during the brutal cold, during the brutal heat. And he was going to convert a thrift store into a shelter, and he was going to offer, what, grace and empathy and patience

with a population that's either forgotten, disregarded, or stigmatized. The reality is Salvation Army, the national organization, says, no, you can't do this. If you're going to have people stay on our property, under our moniker, under our brand, under our umbrella, you're going to have to breathalyze them. You're going to have to do background checks, make sure they're not sex offenders, make sure they're not drunk and high. This plan that you came up with absolutely does not work. Now back to the drawing board. I want to unpack that on the Monday edition of the I Love Seville show. I also want to talk on

today's program, ladies and gentlemen. Cell phones are no more in public schools. Kids are not using public schools right now. A Governor Glenn Young can order in Virginia public schools what that means to the community, what that means to parents. I want to talk on today's program, who should be the next chair of the Albemarle County Republican Party. I'll offer who I think should be, and I'll even say who I think should not be on today's program. I'm hearing from local retailers, friends of the program, clients of the program, people that listen and watch the show who have reached out, that shoplifting and theft is a major point of concern for small businesses in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and Central Virginia. A level of theft that is occurring that is flying under the radar,

not prominent enough to draw the attention from local police. The values that are being stolen are not enough to register for significant police attention, but still it's significant enough theft that it's damning local business models. That topic on today's program. Lloyd Snook, why don't you add a little color to that headline? Counselor Snook pushing for a pilot from the University of Virginia. So it's not just Michael Payne, now it's Lloyd Snook getting in the mix. That could be a fantastic lasting legacy for Lloyd Snook. I think he's got a very positive legacy

in Charlottesville history books. But perhaps a last push for his lasting legacy could be under his watch a payment in lieu of taxes from the University of Virginia to Charlottesville. We'll talk about that on today's program. I want to talk on today's program and ask a very sincere question. Is this the lowest point for the University of Virginia men's basketball team since 2009? Are we at a lowest point in Virginia basketball history since maybe 16 years ago when Tony Bennett took over the team? When Bennett took

over the team, ladies and gentlemen, in March of 2009, he inherited a program that was 10 and 18 and had the worst record in program history since 1966, 1967. Are we on that trajectory, that topic on today's program? I got two words for you, shock of smart, shock of smart. Shaka smart. Shaka smart. If you don't make a push for Shaka smart as your next Virginia basketball coach, maybe a mistake is being made. We'll talk about that tomorrow at 1015 a.m. on the Jerry and Jerry show. We will also talk on the Jerry and Jerry show if athletic director Carla Williams is the right person to potentially hire a Virginia football coach and a Virginia men's basketball coach in a 12-month period of time. So much to cover on the show.

Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, we'll give them some love. We saw John and Andrew Vermillion today. There goes David Toscano. He just walked by the studio, gave me a nice little wave, a tip of the cap to the retired delegate. David Toscano, the active Esqu to the retired delicate, David Toscano, the active Esquire. Love you, David Toscano. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, John and Andrew Vermillion. We saw them this morning. Support the businesses you want to see make it another 60 years. John and Andrew Vermillion at Charlottesville Sanitary Supply are doing things the right way, the honest way, the communicative way, the customer service way. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, we were talking with the Vermillions, the loss of a business

like Reed's. And you could tell with the Vermillions that losing a grocery store like Reed's stung them, hurt their heart, hurt their soul. They talked about the rib roasts that they would often get over the holidays at Reed's, a family tradition. Guys, local businesses are in peril right now. I can't say that enough. We, as what we do with commercial real estate, with branding and advertising, with raising money, with helping small businesses gain market share, we are the proverbial confessional for small business

in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Central Virginia. They come into our office, our confessional booth. I sit on one side of the desk, one side of the confessional, and I hear the good, bad, and ugly of what's going on in this community, economically, small business-wise, politically,

the deepest, darkest secrets, the points of pride that want to be broadcasted and megaphoned. And I'm here to tell you, without breaching any confidence, that small business is in peril right now in an ever-changing Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Central Virginia marketplace, one that is gentrified quickly, that does not have the institutional consumer commitment to supporting legacy brands like it once did prior to COVID. You have a community that has radically changed because of hybrid and remote work and because of the impact of the University of Virginia and a community that is still going to radically change because of the influence of the data science school and the biotech school where thousands of

six-figure households, deep six-figure households, will spring up, will be birthed, will pop up in our community. And these thousands of six-figure households that are coming in the next 24 to 48 months do not have the commitment, consumer commitment, institutional consumer commitment that we did prior to COVID when it was a community that was not as radically changed. So much I want to cover on today's program. Judah Wickhour, studio camera, then Judah Wickhour on a two-shot. I mean, do we lead? We've got to lead with a low barrier shelter, right? Kevin Yancey, welcome to the broadcast. Thank you kindly for joining us.

Local television station, welcome to the broadcast. Thank you kindly for joining us. I'm hearing scuttlebutt. One of the local TV stations, I'm not going to say which one, is on the cusp of another round of cuts considering another potential axing of a news broadcast, and more pink slips or early retirement suggestions for a local television station.

Remember, the local media is tied to advertising as much as anyone. So much we're going to cover on today's program. James Watson, Kevin Yancey, Bill McChesney, thank you for watching the program. Janice Boyce-Trevillian, it's good to see you watching the show. Phillip, thank you for watching the program. Dan Thompson, Andre Xavier, Kevin Sullivan, Beth Marcus, Queen of Farmington watching the show. Which headline most intrigues you, Judah Wicower, and why? I mean, there's a lot going on with this shelter story,

and it's looking very interesting. Do you want to set the stage? Set the table for us. Does the fork go on the left or the right of the plate? I would say the left. Are you speaking with confidence or conviction? Does the knife the, I'd say the left. Are you speaking with confidence or conviction? Does the knife go on the left or the right of the plate? Does the blade of the knife point inside to the plate or outside away from the plate?

What side of the plate does the napkin go to and where should the glass be positioned? Oh my goodness. Cotillion. Why are you asking me all these questions? Cotillion. You didn't do cotillion? No, I didn't do cotillion. Fork on the left.

Napkin on the left. Fork on top of the napkin. Knife on the right. The blade of the knife pointing inside to the plate. Pointing in? Not out. Oh, my goodness. In. The glass on the right of the plate around the 1.30 or 2 o'clock if it was a face of a clock.

All right. Well. Set the proverbial table. More information for me to completely forget two seconds from now. Well, when you're hobnobbing on your many dates each week with the beautiful ladies you're courting, they will want to see a well-mannered and manicured Judah Wickauer at Mas Tapas

at the local at Bisou at Zocalo at Petit Poix. Interesting. My wife and I had a fantastic outing at the Good Sport inside the Kempton Hotel. We brought our boys for the Stanford basketball game. The Good Sport was showing the Stanford game. It was on the road. Virginia got their tail kicked. We were enjoying, the boys were enjoying chicken tenders. My wife and I had some cold beers and some wings while having a fantastic time at the Good Sport, which is a sports bar inside the Kempton Hotel. That place is sexy. It is done to the nines. I mean, you feel like you're in an atmosphere and an ambiance that is

Manhattan-esque, not one that's just, is that, that's still the city, right? Yeah, that's behind Barrick Shore. That's the city. That's not Albemarle County. Anyway, I'm distracting you. I apologize. Low barrier shelter. Let's see if Judah does this succinctly. The W's. We learned this in journalism school. The who, what, when, where, the head of the local chapter of Salvation Army. And there was, again, still some pushback, some questions about whether Cherry Avenue is the right place for this, but that may become a non-factor if they can't get someone else to run this because as per the nationwide Salvation Army rules, Salvation Army can't run this as a low-barrier shelter. They would need someone else to run it as a low-barrier shelter, and I don't believe they've had anyone come forward to do that yet.

But there's more going on, and it's interesting. There are some ideas bandied around. Someone asked whether or not it would be wise or wiser to switch the two buildings, not switch the actual buildings, but switch the purposes of them, move the... Ridge Street to Cherry Avenue and Cherry Avenue to Ridge Street. Put the low barrier shelter on Ridge and then the high barrier shelter on cherry avenue yeah that would appease the fifeville neighborhood association or some in the fifeville neighborhood association but that's not feasible because i don't think that's feasible at all well extremely costly well in this case i believe they're already they're already working on some renovations of the Ridge Street property and it also has several facilities

that couldn't just be ignored or left there. In other words, the things that are available in the Ridge Street shelter need to be there for the people that that shelter is for and couldn't just be converted to something else. And they would need, I believe, more space to put all of that stuff in the Cherry Street shelter.

So that is not feasible. Deep Throat, back in Charlottesville, from his paradise in Montana, he has me chuckling by saying, to revive the I Love Seville show, Yiddish Word of the Day, running the Republican Party in Elmira County is akin to a form of Narishkeit. Am I saying that right?

Deep throat? N-A-R-I-S-H-K-E-I-T. We don't have to go down the road of looking that up. I'm curious. The actions of a foolish person is the Yiddish word Narishkeit. Am I pronouncing that correctly? The Yiddish word of the day is something that I miss. Look, I'll, I'll, Naresh Kite, he corrects me, deep throat, a, a, a, a Yiddish Renaissance man and virtuoso, if you may. Ginny Hu says, speaking of retail theft and shoplifting when it comes up, if it's a pack of gum that is theft. Amen, sister. I want to talk about that in a matter of moments. We're hearing from a number of local businesses that theft is running rampant and there's nothing they can do about it now. Okay? We'll talk about that.

I want to get back to the low barrier Salvation Army story. Look. I'm going to have some, one of my resolutions for 2025 is to have a little bit more empathy and grace and patience with people. Wow.

Patience is not one of my strengths. I'm a very direct person. I get to the point in everything I do. I call it efficient. Some would call it tenacious. Others would call it steamrolling. I call it getting. Some would call it tenacious. Others would call it steamrolling. I call it getting the job done. My wife and others have asked,

perhaps, as we had our what would you like for 2025 resolutions, I initially said nothing. I said nothing, much to the disappointment and chagrin of the family and friends in attendance. Then I said, okay, I'll be a little bit more patient. I'll offer some grace and empathy and patience to Major Mark Van Meter.

Here's the grace and empathy. He was trying to do the right thing. By finding a solution to a low barrier shelter. Old Jerry, not new Jerry, but old Jerry would say, you're the major of the Salvation Army here in Charlottesville and Central Virginia. You have tremendous responsibilities. And for you to go on multiple media platforms and speak on the record and have many meetings with the city manager about a low barrier shelter

throughout the fall of 2024 on Cherry Avenue, converting a thrift store to a low barrier shelter throughout the fall of 2024 on Cherry Avenue converting a thrift store to a low barrier shelter to get the community's hopes up only to disappoint them at the bottom of the ninth inning, that is, patient Jerry, empathetic Jerry, and Jerry full of grace would say, that is a mistake. Old Jerry would call it completely something different. Negligent, misinformed, malpractice. Well, this doesn't completely bring the plans

to a screeching halt. It means they can't manage it. Find me an organization that wants to manage a low barrier shelter where they're going to provide housing for pedophiles, convicts, drug addicts, and drunks. Who's going to do that? Who's going to run a grocery store on Cherry Avenue where grocery stores all over the community are struggling mightily to stay in business? We have these pipe dreams for pockets of the community that are historically marginalized and forgotten. Pockets of the community that are historically marginalized and forgotten,

pockets of the community that are steamrolled, that are taken advantage of, and we dangle the proverbial carrot almost as if we're racing great hounds with a stuffed bunny on a mechanical arm that revolves around a racetrack and having the great hounds, the marginalized community, chase after this stuffed bunny on a mechanical arm, running in circles. Running in circles. Grocery store, running in circles. Grocery store, running in circles.

Low barrier shelter, houseless people, drug addicts, drunks, convicted sex offenders. They can be here. They can be here. They can be here. For in the bottom of the ninth inning to just have the mat pulled out from under them it's just it's disheartening i would say for most of the cherry avenue residents this is probably a sigh of relief push back on that i don't think a large i think i think respectfully i think a portion of them were in opposition to the low barrier shelter, and I can understand why. It's a neighborhood, convicted sex offenders, registered sex offenders, alcoholics, drunks, actively fighting sobriety, pursuing sobriety is a better term, in their neighborhood.

I wouldn't want that. You wouldn't want that. I understand why some people don't want that. Others were very much in favor. The plan made perfect sense. Bus route, center of town, walking to everything, including the plethora of soup kitchens that are around the most important eight blocks in the region,

the downtown mall, but not on the mall where it impacted economic activity. It was a fantastic plan. Then in a meeting in the bottom of the ninth inning, he's like, dude, I made a mistake. I can't do this. We're going to have to breathalyze people. We're going to have to check a government form issue. They don't have government issued identifications. They have to pass a breathalyzer and a drug test and a background check before they can stay with us. Matthew Gilligan of the Gilligan gang, the leader of the Gilligan gang, the head, the co-chair of Livable Seville says,

how is that a low-barrier shelter in the meeting? He then calls Sam Sanders, the city manager, out directly and says, Sam, city manager, you advertise something that is not the same as what you're advertising now. Sam Sanders says, I think you're right. I think you're right. I think he was talking about Van Meter advertising. A hundred percent. But Sam Sanders also advertised it sam sanders also talked about the upside of a low

barrier shelter and city contribution taxpayer dollars to set shelter on cherry avenue to make it happen everyone has egg on their face here and all the egg on the face grace jerry empathy jerry patient jerry stems from a oversight from Major Mark Van Meter. Am I right? Yeah. Right? He wasn't expecting to be running the place. And less people have come alongside to partner.

He was, in some ways, expecting to run the place. I don't think he was. Okay, he was going to run the place. I don't think he was. Okay, he was going to provide the shelter, the thrift store. He even says, I thought there would be more partners coming along. Who is going to want to run this? There are nonprofits and businesses out there that are in the business of running homeless shelters. Low barrier ones? The most dangerous of all of them?

This is akin, there's an analogy to be made. We're studying for the SATs. We got our big book out in front of us. Are they even doing books now? I guess it's all online. We're studying. I never studied for the SAT. You didn't take SAT prep class?

No. Really? You didn't take a prep class for the SATs? No. I took multiple SAT prep class. My brother and I started taking the PSATs in seventh grade. We were selected in seventh grade to take the PSATs when we both got into seventh grade. And then my parents, fortunate, fortunate, fortunate.

Did you know anyone could take the SATs? You can pay for your son or daughter to take the SAT, even if they're not a junior in high school or a senior in high school. My parents, after we got selected for the PSAT program, my mom and dad paid for my brother and I. It's a nominal fee to take the SATs as ninth graders, as 10th graders. So by the time we got to the SAT as a junior, we had already taken the PSAT once and then the SAT in ninth and 10th grade. It was easy peasy, Sunday breezy. I bet. Because we prepped for it. Practice. There's an analogy. The idea of a grocery store on Cherry Avenue, literally across the street, of the idea of a low barrier shelter on Cherry Avenue.

They are pipe dreams. A proverbial carrot that's dangled to get a historically forgotten community excited engaged and interested and then said carrot much like a greyhound race in sunny florida never makes it in the mouths of the greyhounds pursuing the carrot on the mechanical arm, the stuffed rabbit on the mechanical arm. And it's unfortunate. And that's what's happening right now. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Put them in the feed. Anything else you want to add to that Judah Wickauer? No, I'm not sure why they would be leading them around

the track though. For which analogy? The grocery store? Either of them. Is there any point to leading them around? Do you think it's just to get them engaged and make them think

that somebody is doing something for them? Is that the limit of it? Lauren, welcome to the program. Ginny Hu, Philip Dow, thank you for watching. In regards to the grocery store, is it because of the development associated with the project? Do you dangle the grocery concept to get the rest of the development a reality? The housing and the retail? Is that why? Do you dangle the grocery concept to get the rest of the development a reality?

The housing and the retail? Is that why? You think they always thought this was going to be a non-starter? I said from day one that this grocery store was never going to come to fruition. I said from day one that doing a grocery store was a pipe dream. Did I not say that? Sure. Didn't John store was a pipe dream. Did I not say that? Sure. Didn't John Blair say that? Did Deep Throat not say that? We all said that. We said this is a bogus idea. Do you think they've got a second set of plans that do not include building any of the infrastructure for the grocery store? I would not be surprised if no one steps up and chooses to run it.

The dangled carrot with the low barrier shelter on Cherry Avenue, I don't see that MO. I think that truly could have been a mistake. Yeah, I definitely... But it was still a dangled carrot. It may not have an ulterior motive, but it was still a dangled carrot.

Okay. I'm not really sure ulterior motive, but it was still a dangled carrot. Okay. I'm not really sure I see that, but... The community got excited for a shelter. You know who got really excited for this shelter? The eight blocks we call the downtown mall. So you're saying the dangled carrot wasn't to Cherry, it was to everyone else. It was to the community. It was to the struggling merchants on the mall.

It was to quality of life on the mall. Okay. It was to the gentleman that sleeps in front of Mary's Tools Jewelers. Or the guy that has returned to Draft Taproom. Good God, open your doors, Draft Taproom. Stefan Freeman said he would come on the program, the owner of Vitae Spirits, the owner of Ace Biscuit and Barbecue, the owner of Bonnie and Reed, the owner of Draft Taproom.

He loves a cold beverage at the bar at Mary Gould at Keswick Hall. He said he would come on the program. Remind me to follow up with him. And on another programming note, Travis Wilburn on tomorrow's program. We're Facebook messaging back and forth. Travis Wilburn is a hospitality and lodging, what's the word, impresario, what's the word? Impresario? I don't, I haven't really used that. Magnet King Pen, now taking over 200 South Street Inn and the hotel right off of High Street, the six-unit hotel off of High Street. This guy overnight has become a heavy, heavy, heavy hitter. Travis, I'm excited for tomorrow's interview on the I Love Seville show. Kevin Higgins,

mayor of Greenwood, given the entry requirements regarding substance abuse, perhaps Region 10 is the right organization to run the shelter. They are already running a shelter, the Moore Building, now on East Market Street. Appreciate that suggestion from the connected Kevin Higgins. says, if we don't want the change to happen in this community, we need to stop selling buildings to out-of-market buyers. Stop allowing out-of-market, out-of-town, out-of-state investors to buy everything. I push back on Kevin Yancey

and say, how can you stop out-of-market buyers and investors from buying things in market? I don't say I disagree with him, but how do you stop that? I just found out today that a man who owns a percent of the Houston Astros has a residence in the city of Charlottesville.

I'll leave it at that without any other details coming out. Not my place to say. Don't let anyone in these days. That made me laugh. Someone who owns a percentage of the Houston Astros lives, or at least partially, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Props to him. Next headline, Judah Wickhauer, what do you got?

Let's see. Where is the money going with Seville City Schools? Deep Throat got me thinking this morning. Appreciate you, Deep Throat. He sent me this direct message. As we enter budget season, here's an interesting statistic for the show. Seville has the fifth highest per pupil instructional expenditure in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Almost 50% above statewide average. However, the average teacher salary in city schools is slightly below statewide average. However, the average teacher salary in city schools is slightly below statewide average. Where is the money going? Administrators. I'll relay it again. Renaming schools. I'll give it again. City schools, Charlottesville City Schools have the fifth highest per pupil instructional

expenditure in the Commonwealth of Virginia, almost 50% above statewide average. Yet the average teacher salary in the city schools are slightly below the statewide average. Where is the money going? Where's the money going? How much have they spent on renaming schools? Who asked about renaming schools?

Who caught flack from the activist community about highlighting the unnecessary expense associated with renaming schools? Everyone that wasn't an administrator in the Charlottesville city schools. What? I'm not sure what you're saying. I don't even follow what you're saying. Okay. What are you saying?

Do you want me to point at you? No. Remember when I penned a commentary, a column on I Love Seville, and got reamed by the activists? Look, it's one thing for someone to say it over a cocktail at a Saturday cookout. It's not a barbecue. We eat barbecue in the South. We don't go to barbecues in the South. We eat barbecue in the South. We go to cookouts in the South. My wife and I, this is a point of contention for us. Her Yankee family says, let's go to a barbecue. We're going to the barbecue.

We don't go to the barbecue. We eat barbecue. We're going to a cookout. It's one thing over a beer or a glass of Chardonnay or a bourbon at a cookout to say this is wasted money, the rebranding and renaming of schools. It's another thing altogether to put it in front of hundreds of thousands of people, the I Love Seville Network. And the rebranding and the renaming of schools is not the driving force of bloat or wasted money, but it is certainly an aspect of it. No doubt. And now we're not only in budget season, we're in election season. Who just announced, I'm drawing a blank here, Charlottesville City Council elections.

What was the guy that just lost Charlottesville election in the primary. Deshaud Cooper. Deshaud Cooper. He's running for Charlottesville City School Board. Got a couple of other folks that said they're going to run again. Deshaud Cooper is number two in the city Democratic Party. Wow.

He's running for school board. He lost a council race in 2023. Frankly, got hammered in the city Democratic Party. Wow. He's running for school board. He lost a council race in 2023. Frankly, got hammered in the primary. Natalie Ostrand, 5,047 votes in the 2023 primary. Michael Payne, and I'm looking at this straight from Sevillepedia, 4,819 votes in the primary. Snook, 4,411. Next closest was Deshaun Cooper,ook, 4,411. Next closest was

Deshaun Cooper, not even 3,000 votes. He's running for Charlottesville City School Board. Can someone ask where the money is going? Should we not know where the money is going? Alamaro County School Board, the unfortunate

passing of the Rio representative, he died just a short time after taking office. Seven candidates have applied to take his spot. Now the Alamo County School Board is going to interview the seven candidates to take the spot of the Rio School Board. Elected who passed away, who died unexpectedly, tragically, sadly. Where's the money going? Yeah. Especially since it's not going to the teachers. Price Thomas, the piece of news that you wanted to talk about on the show, he wrote a column

for the Daily Progress. Can you read the headline of the Daily Progress? Can you read the nut graph, the lead? How do you spell lead of a newspaper story? L-E-A-D. What did you say? L-E-A-D. L-E-D-E. What? Lead with a newspaper story is L-E-D-E.

L-E-D-E. It is not spelled L-E-D-E. It is not spelled L-E-A-D. You always want to compel. You always want to craft a compelling lead to capture the attentions of readers so they can make it throughout the rest of your story. L-E-D-E. Tell us the who, what, when, where, why of Price Thomas' commentary on the Daily Progress. This is an article written by Price Thomas. The front of the program. I've known Price Thomas since he was a freshman in high school.

It's titled, Charlottesville is sacrificing basic reading skills for graduation rates. Only half of Charlottesville's black and economically disadvantaged students can read on grade level at age 17. They will. You should say that again. Can you say that again?

Only half of Charlottesville's black and economically disadvantaged students can read on grade level at age 17. They will nevertheless graduate. What the H-E double hoggy sticks is that? You know what that's called? It's called a travesty. It's called social promotion. Keep reading.

Some people call non-profit work. I don't know that this part is necessary to the story. You don't need to get into the fluffy stuff. Stick with the nitty gritty. And I'll give you my Price Thomas background. Let's see. Let them know who Price Thomas is. I don't really know very well who he is.

It'll say early in the story, probably after one of his quotes. He's the executive director of the City of Promise. Okay. Here's his issue. Something a school counselor said to him has stuck in his head like a Netflix kid show theme song. They said, referencing years past, something to the effect of,

a handful of our seniors only had one semester to get enough credits to graduate, and they all managed to walk across the stage. And they said this with a certain amount of pride, because having a diploma does statistically improve outcomes. We're helping. My enduring thought is, in the immortal words of Queen Aretha Franklin, ain't no way. It paints a romantic picture of these students,

who many people wrote off, parading across the graduation stage in caps and gowns, cameras flashing, pop and circumstance blaring. It demonstrates how adeptly we've been led to believe that the goal is the act of graduating, not the mastery of the skills necessary to qualify to earn said distinction. One of the most basic tenets of human psychology is that people respond to incentives. So I got to thinking, are the incentives of schools and school divisions and thus our entire system of education

genuinely aligned with educating kids? All kids, or you know, just the ones with resources. This is where you could say, yeah, kids like Jerry's family who had him taking the SAT since the seventh grade. Yeah. There you go, you should say, yeah, kids like Jerry's family who had him taking the SAT since the seventh grade. Yeah. There you go. You should say that.

Zing me back. I want you to zing me. Okay. You've been zinged. Okay. I'll give you a little feedback. I first met Price Thomas when he was a high school student at Albemarle High School. I was working while a student at the University of Virginia before my third year as a part-time sports writer for Jerry Ratcliffe,

a stringer, making $30 a story plus mileage. I would often cover Albemarle High School, Western Albemarle High School, Monticello, Charlottesville High School, Covenant, St. Ann's, Belfield, the schools that were in the core of Charlottesville High School, Covenant, St. Ann's Belfield, the schools that were in the core of Charlottesville and Almaro because they were in close driving distance of the newspaper, which was located on Rio Road, and also had the largest population of students and parents, which meant readership. Almaro High School, the basketball team, was coached by Greg Maynard. Price Thomas was an athletic, come off the bench, call him swing man, small forward, two guard,

a three and D type of guy, not necessarily a basketball player, but just a fantastic athlete that contributed significant minutes for Greg Maynard's basketball team. Price Thomas's best sport was soccer. He was one of the best soccer players in the Commonwealth of Virginia, period. One of the best soccer players

in the Commonwealth District. He ended up playing soccer at William & Mary. I grew up in Williamsburg. I know William & Mary. I know tribe soccer. He played soccer overseas in Europe for a little while. I used to watch Price Thomas post-William & Mary soccer career, college graduation, post-professional soccer career in Europe, working out at ACAC downtown Charlottesville. And this guy would do some of the most difficult workouts I'd ever seen ever, core workouts. The dude was a shredded physical specimen. The physique of Adonis, Price Thomas. And I've watched Price Thomas, whose parents are both educators, climb the ladder of influence in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Central Virginia to the point today where he is a man of tremendous platform and notoriety and influence. He has something to say and people will listen.

As the executive director, ladies and gentlemen, of City of Promise, his job is to have a positive impact on generational poverty locally, specifically child-centered, full family education, mentoring programs in the Charlottesville area. And through his work as the executive director of City of Promise, he's worked there for nearly two years,

he has found that black and brown students in local schools are being disregarded, forgotten, fast-tracked through social promotion. And what is happening is these black and brown students at Albemarle at, I guess I could say Western, probably not a ton of black and brown students at Western, at Charlottesville, at Monticello let's just use

Albemarle, Charlottesville, and Monticello they are being fast tracked without giving the actual skills needed, like reading and writing, what was the stat the actual skills needed, like reading and writing. What was the stat, the first stat you gave with reading and writing from the story? Read it verbatim so you don't mess it up. I can give you the actual numbers. It's just after I stopped. We've got data published by the Virginia Department of Education tells an interesting

story. It illustrates that only 38% of black third graders and only 40% of their economically disadvantaged peers in the city of Charlottesville are reading on grade level. Essentially, by the time these students are entering high school, fewer than half of our black and economically disadvantaged students are reading on grade level. Early in the story, you gave a stat about graduation. Let's see.

Dead air. No dead air. Sorry. I don't remember a particular stat. A certain amount of pride because the diploma does statistically improve outcomes. Earlier. We're helping earlier than that? I'm not sure what you're referencing. I didn't read anything that had any numbers in it. This is my point. Point, you want businesses to hire within the community so we prevent actual gentrification from happening.

We want these six-figure jobs to go with two people from in the community. How can we hire from within the community to keep a significantly radically changing socioeconomic look of the community from happening. How can we do that if the folks we're trying to hire cannot read or write or are essentially going through a diploma mill? Fast-tracking students through social promotion is the definition of diploma mill. Diploma mill is a term that got traction when athletes were going to fake schools to get credits so they could go play college sports.

We are living a real-life diploma mill in Charlottesville and in Albemarle County where disadvantaged students, whether race or economic, are being socially promoted, diploma mill, and pushed out of hallways without the right skill set needed to actually have success in life. And Price Thomas is calling that out. Here we got Deep Throat sharing with us significant data, charts and bar graphs, which we will try to highlight on another show this week. And the charts and bar graphs, in a nutshell, for Charlottesville specifically, we have the fifth highest per pupil instructional spend in the state of Virginia.

50% above statewide average. Yet teacher salary is only slightly below statewide average. Where's the money going? We're spending a lot of money on kids. Then Thomas says over the weekend, these kids, black and brown ones and economically disadvantaged ones are essentially pumped through a diploma mill and pushed from classroom through hallway

to classroom to graduation without actual skills. Less than 50% having the ability to read at grade level. And it goes on to say later that the data set tells us that 84% of black students and 85% of economically disadvantaged students graduated high school on time. These are damning statistics. Damning statistics.

Jenny Hu says, this has been happening for a while, but we do have more people willing to call it out since COVID, since 2020. Damning statistics. Businesses can't hire from within the community if the candidates they try to hire within the community cannot read or write. And if you can't hire from within the community because your candidates can't read or write, you're going to go outside of the community to make your hires. And when you go outside of the community to make your hires, you're going to gentrify the community. When you

go outside the community to make your hires, the people that you hire and attract and pay the six-figure salaries will not have the consumer commitment to keep our local businesses around. I'd say there are a fair number of us who don't do that anyways. The commitment to local shopping prior to COVID was a significantly more passionate movement than it is now. And that's another aspect of COVID collateral damage. In 2018 and 2019, this community pounded its chest and said with a proverbial megaphone that we will spend more and shop local, stay local, shop local, buy local, support local. Since COVID, that movement has gone on the DL. And we can point to a number of proof of performances of that statement. And now another concern that's happening,

put that lower third on screen. Local businesses are saying shoplifting is rampant. These local businesses, some of them even empathize with the people that are stealing from them, saying they can't afford to buy what they need to because it's so expensive to live here, so instead they're choosing to steal. And then these local businesses have said to us, what are we supposed to do? The amount of theft is not significant enough to garner police investigation,

but it's significant enough that it's putting us potentially out of business. Yeah. Think about the crossroads I just described. Just bear with me with this flip book we call life. Okay. We have city schools and county schools that are pushing economically disadvantaged students and black and brown students from grade to grade to grade to grade in diploma mill fashion, despite the students not having reading and writing and

math skills needed to graduate. When you don't have reading and writing and math skills needed to graduate, you're not going to go to a four-year college. You're going to stay right in your home and try to figure out life. Then you're going to get bypassed for the good jobs because you never got the foundation for reading, writing, communication, math, the skills you need for good jobs. So you don't have the skills you need for good jobs. Those jobs pass. You get passed for those. They go to folks that are out of market. The folks that get the jobs out of market are pushing you out of the areas where you can afford to live. Then you're pushed out of the areas where you can afford to live into outer counties, more affordable.

But you're still commuting into the city, the epicenter of employment, where the jobs are, shrinking your paycheck because you've got to commute the opportunity cost of time and transportation and commute. Then when you realize your paycheck doesn't go far enough, you're resorting to stealing. And who are you stealing from? The local businesses that can barely make it and survive because the internet's cannibalizing your retail model your in-store model because the big box brands have economies of scale and vertically integrated advantages that you don't and because the consumer that's moved here post-covid doesn't have the commitment to institutional shopping and supporting local that once took place here prior to the pandemic this is an effing sociology experiment.

I take that back. It's an effing sociology nightmare that we're living in real time. Real time. I don't even know how you fix it. Those that don't have the educational skill set, of course they're going to resort to crime. You know why? Mr. Gillespie taught me this in pre-algebra, in algebra 2 trig, and in pre-calculus. He had us write above every test DWYGD,

do what you got to do. And his DWYGD, do what you got to do. And his D-W-Y-G-D, do what you got to do, meant to solve the problem at hand on the paper in front of you, the test at hand. It didn't mean to steal, but people are doing what you got to do to live. Reads, and they're quotes to the CVO Weekly, they said one of the reasons we're closing,

theft has become a major problem here. Theft. I'll ask her again. She sent me a Facebook message. We've been corresponding. Sue Brooks Clements, please come on the program. We've been Facebook messaging each other to talk about what you have experienced with Reeds

and this community. Please, I promise you it will be an open-ended interview. No shock jock, open-ended. You can dictate the pace of where we're going to go. Effing crazy. Next topic, what is it, Judah Wickauer? Got a newspaper watching us right now. No, sorry.

I'm sorry, I got to get to John Blair. John Blair's A-plus people. If you take a look at the Cherry Avenue rezoning, the space reserved for a grocery store will disappear upon the issuance of any certificate of occupancy for the project. I don't think people are paying attention to that provision of the rezoning proffers.

There you go. That answered your question. You hear that, viewers and listeners? If you take a look at the Cherry Avenue rezoning, the space reserved for a grocery store will disappear upon the issuance of any certificate of occupancy for the project. I don't think people are paying attention to that provision of the rezoning proffers. There you go. Talk about the dangled carrot. There it is. So is he basically saying that they never intended to build one? I think they intended to do it. But back of their mind was, who's going to run this? Because they straight up said they wouldn't. They'll give you a $3 million box. And then you're going to spend millions of dollars to outfit it. And then you're going to have to staff it.

And the most difficult aspect is you're going to have to keep it in business. They're not in the business of setting up grocery stores. Who's in the business of being a grocery store? Who wants to be in the business of being in the grocery business? Being in the grocery business

is akin to being in the business of running a low barrier shelter where you have to maintain sobriety for alcoholics and drug addicts and maintain civility civility and and and and law for convicted sex offenders and others tied to crime he was going to run a low barrier shelter where convicted sex offenders, registered sex offenders were going to be allowed to stay. Okay. That's

a little bit... Misleading? Inflammatory. Which part is inflammatory? Suzanne Daly, you're on deck. I believe that City Manager Sanders brought up in that meeting the fact that there are there is a registry, there is a list, and it is composed of two people in the Charlottesville area who are sex offenders. So making it out like there are going to be droves of pedophiles moving in and out.

Judah, do you have kids? Is that relevant? Is it relevant if you have kids and your heart is walking outside your body on a daily basis? That's what it's like to being a parent. Being a parent is akin to your heart walking outside your body. That was presented to me in that very specific way by Haw Spencer.

I was on a hike with my six-year-old son, our German Shepherd, Max. Haw's two dogs, one of them a Jack Russell Terrier that has three legs. Okay. Me, Haw's, and our six-year-old were hiking in Ivy. I was shocked that the three-year-old, that the three-legged Jack Russell Terrier could keep up with the four-legged Max the German Shepherd and the four-legged Terrier dog that he had that was energetic as hell, almost as if he had drank Jolt Cola from a water bowl before going on the hike with us. And we were talking about what it's like to be

parents. His kids, his youngest about to graduate from the University of Virginia. And he said, having kids is akin to your heart walking outside your body. I make that statement because as someone who's a parent, I wouldn't want two registered sex offenders within 100 feet, within a half a mile of my kids. Okay. And then you're supposed to say, what happened to New Year's resolution, grace and patience and empathetic Jerry?

No, no, I was just going to comment about the whipl patience and empathetic Jerry? No, no. I was just going to comment about the whiplash I'm feeling. But, yeah, okay. All right. Maybe that's lacking grace and empathy and patience. But you know what? It's my kids. It's our kids.

You should hear what my wife would say. Be even more to the point than what I said. Fair enough. Suzanne Daly. Appreciate your patience. Teachers know when kids cannot read and many of them are put in the position where they are unable to speak up with outrage publicly.

They are not allowed or they will be fired. So many leave and go work for private schools or elsewhere, but most stay and chug through another year towards retirement and pension. Superintendents like Haas make it clear that teachers are not to speak out about minority populations doing poorly, which is making it worse, sadly. Lack of public outrage is the problem. Teachers need to speak up and have a career contingency plan. It is ruining our society at large.

Also, Albemarle County Public Schools' main tenant in all Albemarle County Public School email signatures is equity. Equity is equal outcome. Graduation diplomas are equal outcome. Goal achieved. Suzanne Daly, you made the program better. The phone is blowing up over here with viewers and listeners. Anything else you want to offer here at the 134 marker with a 145 lease signing in our office 11 minutes away someone's coming in here what's the next topic if you couldn't pass it along to the viewers and listeners

on a monday oh let's see we've got no cell phone policy is now in effect. Thank the Lord. Yeah. A lot of parents had issue with me saying there should be no cell phone use in schools. A lot of parents reached out and said, no way, dude. Cell phones is how they communicate with us if there's trouble in the schools. Gun violence, fighting, brawling, crime. We need to hear from our kids. Let them have cell phones.

Plus the educational component of having cell phones. I'm not sure what benefit that provides besides peace of mind. Stephanie Rhodes. Yes, that is correct. Is that the son of Ms. Price Thomas and Mr. Thomas? They were at Walt Middle School when I was there. She was a gym teacher, and he was the best band director. Stephanie Wells Rhodes, that's exactly who that is.

You have a fantastic memory of Stephanie Wells Rhodes. Price Thomas is the son of those two educators. You're 100% right, Stephanie. And I say exactly what Judah said. Say it again. Parents are saying kids should have cell phones in schools in case of a school shooting, fighting, brawling, and crime. Yeah, I don't know what benefit that provides besides peace of mind.

And even that has got to be pretty thin. Bingo. We'll catch beef for that statement. I'll catch the beef as the front and center of the show. I 1,000% agree with you. The notification will come from the school about safety through an email or a text or a phone call. And no amount of your kid phoning you is going to change whatever is going on at school. Say it loud, Judah. 1,000% agree with you.

We'll catch issue for that. 1,000% agree. Youngkin agrees too. Next topic, lower third on screen. Are we almost done? Travis Wilburn, tomorrow's program. We're working on confirming here. Travis, are we locking that in?

T-dubs? T-dubs is a hospitality and lodging magnet. Impizzario. Virtuoso. King Penn. All-around good guy. Last topic of the show, is it UVA basketball? We've got a few. We've got who should be the next chair of Albemarle County Republican Party. Snook pushing for a pilot from UVA. Who should be the next chair of the Albemarle County Republican Party for tomorrow's program? Use that headline on tomorrow's show.

We ran into John Lowry today, a fantastic guy. Recently announced his retirement from the Albemarle County Republican Party chairman position. I have a couple of ideas who could be the chairperson and a couple of ideas who should not be the chairperson. And if I say who should not be the chairperson, and everyone knows I'm going to, I'm going to catch some heat for it. But it's important the community knows. The last topic, it's Virginia basketball.

We'll talk about this tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. with Jerry Ratcliffe on the Jerry and Jerry Show. I'm going to make a convincing argument that Virginia basketball right now We'll talk about this tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. with Jerry Ratcliffe on the Jerry and Jerry Show. I'm going to make a convincing argument that Virginia basketball right now is at its lowest point since March 2009 when Tony Bennett took the program over. He inherited a team that was 10-18 overall, the worst record in program history since the 1966-1967 season. Ron Sanchez and Virginia basketball are getting hammered in ACC play. They just got humiliated by Cal and Stanford. This team is in peril.

And wait until the transfer portal opens to see who jumps in. If anyone thinks Day Day Aims is returning, you're not reading the tea leaves correctly. It's the Monday edition of the program. Judah Wickower, Jerry Miller on a still snow-covered downtown Charlottesville. Market Street cam?

Is the Market Street cam on? Look at what's out there. It's treacherous. And parking is horrendous. It's horrendous. At a time when the downtown is starving for patrons. I thought, I 100% thought that they would do some work on the parking down. And they did nothing.

Over the weekend. We had some warm weather. I'm sure some of that. Thawed? Some of it thawed a little bit. Nothing. I haven't seen evidence. Are you showing Market Street?

Yeah. Look at this. I haven't seen. We were looking around for a parking spot. Judah Wickhauer and I are capable, able-bodied individuals that are in good health and good shape.

I was struggling to walk and find parking. Imagine if you're an elderly person in a wheelchair. Imagine if you're an elderly person in a wheelchair imagine if you got a wheelchair have kids

pushing a stroller with a baby having a six year old I mean mother that's the show thank you kindly for joining us. Judah Wickower, Jerry Miller, the I Love Seville show on a Monday.

The Jerry and Jerry show tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. So long, everybody. Thank you.