The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - City To Issue Citations For Iced Walkways; Should City Be Cited For Iced Roads & Walkways?

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: City To Issue Citations For Iced Walkways Should City Be Cited For Iced Roads & Walkways? Alb Co Public Schools Closed Today & Friday DC Engineering Firm Buys Chamber Bldg For $800K Is Rose’s On Pantops About To Close Forever? Property Owners Continue To Fight City On Zoning If UVA Paid Real Estate Taxes, This Is The Impact Mortgage Rates Hit Highest Level Since 07/2024 DOJ Sues 6 Top USA Landlords For Price Fixing 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 Thursday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. Today's program is locked and loaded with content. We are absolutely loaded with content on the Thursday edition of this program. Take a look at the screen for today's headlines. I'm going to ask very pointed questions of Charlottesville City Hall. Currently, local government is citing, ticketing, fining local property owners for sidewalks and roadways that are unclear on their property. If they are still snow covered, frankly, now it's all ice. I mean, three or four inches of ice that you're going to have to dig through. You are being fined by local government. And I'm going to ask City Hall,

if you are fining local property owners for uncleared sidewalks, should you fine yourself for uncleared bike lanes and uncleared roadways? That topic on today's program. We have some breaking news for you. engineering firm has officially purchased the Chamber of Commerce building. That deal has closed $800,000 transaction. The new owners of the Chamber of Commerce building on the corner of, is that Fifth Street? Market and Fifth, J-Dubs? Yeah. Market and Fifth, SETI and Associates International. I'll give you details on what transpired with the Chamber of Commerce building in an institutional position in downtown Charlottesville, now the home for an out-of-market engineering firm. On today's program, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to talk about Roses and the Pantop Shopping Center. The chitter-chatter,

the scuttlebutt is that roses and the Pantop Shopping Center is on the brink of permanent closure. This is a discount retailer that cannot survive in 2025. The retailers and the F&B businesses are falling quickly and continue to do so. We're going to talk on today's program, Michael Payne lobbying for the University of Virginia to again pay real estate taxes. Is the number 20 million a year if the University of Virginia paid real estate taxes? We're not talking the foundation, the foundation pays real estate taxes. We're talking the university, the nonprofit. If they paid real estate taxes, $20 million contributed to the city. That's nearly 10% of the budget. He puts in perspective the impact even 10 million could have on city infrastructure. We'll talk

about that today. I want to talk about the Department of Justice suing six of the nation's top landlords for price fixing. We saw this coming. We talked end of last year, in December of last year, that some of these heavy hitters were utilizing software, third-party software, to basically price fix rents across the nation. Not just using software. Using software. No, I take it back. Judah's 100% right. Thank you for holding me accountable. Having in-person conventions and meetings where the directors of revenue, the head honchos of revenue driving, were in meetings together

face-to-face saying, this is what we're going to do from rents and various zip codes in various cities across the country. This is a dirty, dirty story. I want to talk about that today. And speaking of housing, mortgage rates have hit the highest level since July of 2024. All of us anticipated rate cuts in the first quarter of this year. It's looking like it may go the other way. And the Fed, if you read some of these minutes or you just watch CNBC, Bloomberg, read some of the financial media outlets, they are already concerned about inflation coming from Trump policies like tariffs and mass deportation. A lot we're going to cover on today's program, including the University of Virginia men's basketball team. I stayed up until 1.30 in the morning last night watching Virginia play California. It was a tip-off of 11 p.m. And the University of Virginia was run out of the gym.

Run out of the gym. Peja Stojakovic's son, remember Peja from the Sacramento Kings? He won a ring with the Dallas Mavericks. Well, his son is now a star wing player for Cal. And Cal kicked a living bejeebus out of Ron Sanchez's men's basketball team. This is a shadow of the men's basketball team that I passionately pulled for

when Tony Bennett was at the helm. So much to cover on today's program, including Albemarle County Public Schools closed today and the announcement minutes ago that Albemarle County Public Schools will be closed tomorrow. Students that attend the school system in the sixth or seventh

largest county in the Commonwealth of Virginia, it's either the sixth or seventh largest county. You give me that intel, is it the sixth or seventh for Alamaro County? Largest county in Virginia, I believe it's the sixth or seventh. Students that attend ACPS have nearly not been in school. Man, we're so loaded, I got to unzip my jacket. Unzip it in my jacket right now. Have not been in school. Man, we're so loaded, I've got to unzip my jacket. Unzip it in my jacket right now. Have not been in school for almost a month. And this comes at the same time that St. Ann's Belfield Academy was in school yesterday, and just about all the private schools are in today.

Holy bejeebus, a lot we're going to cover on the program. Like the show, share the show, spread the gospel. We don't ask anything of you, but your participation with the program, with your ideas, your topics, liking and sharing the show, please. Judah, let's give some love to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. 60 plus years in business. Our friends, John Vermillion, Andrew Vermillion, online at charlottesvillesanitarysupply.com. Charlesville Sanitary Supply is the type of business we want to support. So they make another 60 years of proudly serving this community. You want to see these businesses survive in our community that are local institutions? You support them.

You walk in the doors and you buy from them directly. If you don't, you're going to start hearing more Reed's grocery stories, ladies and gentlemen. You're going to start hearing more Moose's, Blue Moon Diner, Mel's, Lumpkin's. We need to keep track, Judah Wickhauer,

of a running list of local retailers, local businesses, local F&B that has closed in the last zero to 24 months. I think the list would startle some people. Now the chitter chatter has roses in the Pantop shopping center, closing its doors. The Pantop shopping center is already hurting tremendously. What do you have over there? You have the food lion, right, J-Dubs? Yep. You have Kevin Kirby's Lazy Parrot Grill. Love the Lazy Parrot Grill. Love Kevin Kirby. Love Cassie Kirby. Love the wings. Love the wings.

Love the Cassie Delight. Fantastic sandwich. But that shopping center is hurting. Tell me a shopping center in our community that is not hurting right now. What? Federal Realty's Barracks Road Shopping Center? Is that the only one? Possibly. I can't say Stonefield's in a good position. Can you?

I can't. What shopping center besides publicly traded Federal Realty's Barracks Road Shopping Center is in a healthy position right now? And I don't care what the Office of Economic Development puts out with occupancy or vacancy reports. You can't tell me that some of these businesses that are filling some of these shops are the right shops for sustainability for the shopping centers.

I want to unpack that today. The first story is a story that Judah came up with himself. I love when Judah offers content for the rundown. Judah, you want to set the stage on this one. In fact, I haven't asked you my first question, my friend. Two-shot Judah Wickhauer. Studio camera, two-shot. I'm fired up today. Can you tell? I can. I'm very excited. If you don't have studio camera, we'll just go two-shot and get the very dapper Judah Wickhauer wearing that scarf on the I Love Civo show. Which headline most intrigues you, my friend? Well, I think it's as someone who has to park downtown, I find it a little bit, as you mentioned, hypocritical that the city may start issuing citations to people for icy walkways. Meanwhile, there are exceedingly few parking spaces

if you're not trying to find a two-hour spot down here. And on top of that, there are still plenty of icy walkways, icy sidewalks that don't belong to anyone. And so obviously you can't give what? Who are you going to cite for an icy sidewalk if it's not in front of a house? I walked by the building immediately next door to our building, the Macklin Building. Fortunately, the Macklin Building has got great leadership with its board. I'm on that board. We immediately cleared the sidewalks and the courtyards in front of the Macklin building immediately with our property management company.

Big ups and big props to Doug Brooks and Real Property on clearing the sidewalk, his firm, and the courtyards of the Macklin building. Doug Brooks, big ups to you. I hope you hear that. I hope you get that props, hear that love from us, Doug Brooks. The building right next to ours has a historical landmark associated with it. The Jessup family used to own the building right next to ours. What's that building called? It's the old, old tavern of some kind. Hmm. I building next door, literally the building next door.

Do you remember what it's called? No, I don't. Jessups used to own it. I believe Jenny Stoner and Johnny Pritzloff own it now. And they're fantastic brokers. I hope they hear that. I give Pritzloff and Stoner love all the time on this program. In fact, I will give them some props on that Chamber of Commerce sale. $800,000 deal.

Out-of-market engineering firm from Washington, DC makes that purchase. It's now officially closed. I was walking by the building next door to us, which I believe is Stoner and Pritzloff's building. And there was a citation on the door from the city taped to the front door. I literally read it. I almost snapped a picture of it and put it on the I love Seville network. I don't know why I did not probably Probably because I have a lot of respect for Prince Offit Stoner. And that citation on that door said, if these sidewalks are not cleared, you will have a citation and that citation will be enforced with your real estate property taxes. They will be added to your real estate property taxes, the cost of us hiring a third-party contractor, and to dig through the

ice in front of the sidewalk. And I'll cut through the chase here. I'll cut to the chase here. Somebody that parks downtown, just like Judah Wickauer, the roads and the sidewalks are an absolute nightmare. My wife dropped me off this morning in the family Ford Explorer, and she said, it is disastrous down here. Oh yeah. She says this is dangerous down here in downtown Charlottesville. I've probably got a I probably need to buy a new tire because

of the 20 minutes I spent trying to get out of the spot on Tuesday. Rolling forward and back, burning rubber. Yep. Oh, I mean, you could have chosen to park in the garage and said, Jerry, I didn't

find any parking. Will you cover the cost of me parking in the Market Street garage where it's covered, no inclement weather, and easy to get in and out of? And I would have said, gladly I will do that, Judah. The first hour's free. The remaining seven hours are going to cost me $13.

Cost of doing business, and I would have written it off. Just a suggestion for future snowstorms. $13, cost of doing business. The point you've made is a really good one. How can the city issue citations to property owners for iced over sidewalks when the city itself has bicycle lanes, roadways, and parking spaces that are... And sidewalks. And sidewalks that are what? Iced. Precars that are what? Ice.

Precarious? Dangerous? I mean, no, it's literally ice now. It's ice, and it's not going to clear anytime soon. The city would need legitimately thousands of ice chippers to clear the bike lanes and the sidewalks and the parking spaces that are iced over with temperatures this weekend and more snow and ice in the parking spaces that are iced over with temperatures this weekend and more snow and ice in the forecast. This has been a snowstorm that has been mismanaged of significant proportions.

Is that fair to say? I think so, yeah. Governor Youngkin declared a state of emergency. We knew days in advance that we were going to have heavy snowfall and we knew days in advance that the temperatures were going to stay in the single digits or the teens or the early 20s for a week after the snowfall definitely not getting high enough for anything to melt nothing to melt at least just high enough to to turn it into water so they can refreeze his ice? Who takes the proverbial tumble? Who takes the proverbial, this was literal, goes to the McDonald's drive-thru window, asks for a hot coffee, takes the hot coffee from the drive-thru window, spills the hot coffee all over their lap, and gets the inner thigh and private parts scalding burn, and then sues McDonald's?

Who's going to take that? Who's going to utilize that strategy on a bike lane in the city? I've come close to... Oh, Judah's thinking about a retirement plan over here. What's the retirement plan? Walking to your Ford sedan on the way to the walk to the Ford sedan,

slip on a little black ice, break a tailbone, tear an ACL, and get a brain hemorrhage and file a seven-figure suit? I'm too short. I'm like a weeble wobble. Is it hypocrisy? Yes or no? Before we get to the next topic. it's a fine line, but it's close. I mean, I understand the desire to hold people accountable, and anybody who's working a business or lives in a home has to know by now that you need to clear your walkway. But the city should have prepared for the places that don't have anyone to clear them.

And some of the, and obviously the city is not in, they don't control all of the plow, the snow plow drivers. But there are some areas that are like a car left parked on the street and the snow plow just, you know, basically went around it. Trapped the car. Around it. If somebody's going to leave their car in a public parking spot over the weekend where we've got major snow, that's their fault. But when the snowplow goes around it and then doesn't cut back to the sidewalk so that there's just a long line of built-up snow stretching two, three feet out from the curb,

that needs to be tackled. Citations now being issued, ladies and gentlemen, from Charlottesville for uncleared sidewalks. Kevin Yancey says the city of Waynesboro also cannot clear 15.11 square miles of streets in three to four days. Kathy Carpenter says I was simply amazed at how hardly anyone shoveled their walks. Our block was pretty much the only one done. I was out Tuesday morning. I shoveled up and down, got my two neighbors' walkways up to their houses. You shoveled your neighbors' walkways?

I mean, it's like five minutes. Judah is a good Samaritan. Well, on one side of me, I got a guy who's probably in his 70s or 80s. Helping a 70- and 80-year-old neighbor, Judah Wittkower. Give some props to Judah Wittkower, ladies and gentlemen. Single and ready to mingle, ladies. And on the other side, I've got a couple who must have stayed with someone either in town or out of town because their cars weren't there, I think, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Or Monday and Tuesday. So they knew it was coming. The gentleman that works for the city? That's also a photographer who I know? No, he's down. Okay. Down a ways. We don't have to use his name. How about the next headline? Albemarle County Public Schools close tomorrow. Okay, I'm going to cut to the chase here, right? Cut to the chase.

You ready for this? ACPS, the county, is it the sixth or seventh largest county in the Commonwealth? 16th by population, fifth by area. I think, where'd you find that? You sure about that? Largest counties in Virginia. I don't know if that's right.

You got, I'd have to look that up. I don't know if that's right. We'll look that up. I think it's the six. Fairfax County is one. Prince William County is two. Virginia Beach City, three. Loudoun, four.

Yeah, I'm seeing on census data that they're saying it is sixth by area. I think it's the sixth. Yeah, sixth by area. Thank you. Look, the county is big, right? Yeah. I understand it's big. And I understand students are coming from every corner or crevice of the county.

Like, to think what we see on 5th Street extended or Avon extended in Alamaro County with the roads being cleared is the same of what we're seeing in parts of Afton or Greenwood or out by Walnut Creek. Out by North Garden. It's not going to be the same. The outer portions of Albemarle County are unprotected. But this point needs to be made, okay? St. Ann's-Belfield Academy was in school yesterday. Albemarle County is not in school yesterday, not in school today, not in school tomorrow. And we don't know what's going to happen this weekend with more snow and sleet in the forecast. Albemarle County public school students are on the cusp of being out of school legitimately for nearly a month. Yeah. Nearly a month.

Okay? And these are parents, and whether we want to admit this or not, school is as much a rite of passage, an educational journey, a maturation journey, as it is childcare. Yeah.

Okay? And people may not want to admit this, but people work and they need schools to take care of their kids while they earn money to pay the bills. And I empathize. I'm not throwing shade. I think Alamo County public schools is making the right move here because I know the outer County outer portion of the County is in top tough shape, but I empathize and I sympathize for the parents who now are going an additional week right after Christmas break

without their kids in schools. And I'm not convinced, Judah. I am not convinced that Monday will not be an off day as well. Depending what happens this weekend. Oh, yeah. Well, if they haven't... Even if it didn't snow, if they haven't been out to clear those outer roads yet,

then they might still have to stay closed anyways. But with the addition of snow on top of what is now ice in a lot of places, I can definitely see them deciding to remain closed. Dustin Yancy. Welcome to the broadcast. John Blair. Welcome to the broadcast. Conan Owen.

Welcome to the broadcast. I got multiple media outlets watching us on the show right now. Holly Foster, queen of Henrico says the city of Richmond has very little or no water. Thanks to a power outage at the treatment facility. And that had crossed over into Hanover and Henrico. we have to boil what we have a boil water mandate in short pump at least we have water pressure and can flush so very thrilled to hear we might get up to four inches of snow this weekend i need to run away from home holly i think you need to make a trip to keswick or borset keswick or borset randy o'neill responds to holly foster it has been reported that all the damage was reported by by the state in 22 after inspection zero rescue plan money spent on infrastructure i'm looking at that story right now about richmond is in a water crisis which

has deepened after storm damage. Restoration efforts hindered by equipment failures as state legislator plans to meet briefly yesterday and recess until Monday. Efforts to fully restore water service in Richmond faced another setback Tuesday evening, just hours before the Virginia General Assembly was set to convene for its 2025 session. The water crisis has forced the closure of all state office buildings in Richmond, including the state capitol and the General Assembly building. I spoke to someone yesterday, a friend of the program who lives in Richmond, commutes to Charlottesville for work.

His family, his wife, their three boys, no water at their house. Think about that. 2025. 2025. And it's like Little House on the Prairie. Oregon Trail. Can the wagon cross the river? Remember that game?

I remember you have died of dysentery. Dude, I don't even want to get dirty. I don't even want to get dirty or mud on me. I don't like getting dirty. OCD about getting dirty. Next topic on the show, which one is it, Judah Wickauer? Read the headline, put the lower third on screen. Is it the chamber building?

Yep. What do you make of this story? I've got to give props to the Thalheimer crew, Stoner and Pritzloff. I try to give them props as much as possible. They do a good job. I sincerely mean that. What do you make of the chamber building, 800K, to a DC engineering firm?

I think it's... Settle Associates International. 3,000 square foot building. The previous home for the Charlottesville Albemarle Chamber of Commerce. 800K. They're going to occupy it for their engineering firm. It's a good sale.

Settle and man of many words over here, Judah Wickauer. I mean, I don't know what we expected. Somebody was going to buy it and use it as offices. I don't know if anyone expected anything else to happen. Established in 1984. Yeah. Looks like they have locations in a lot of areas. Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlottesville, Fairfax, Los Angeles, New York, Philly, Tampa.

This is a heavy-hitting engineering firm. This is good for downtown Charlottesville. This is my take. You have white-collar professionals with deep pockets in offices. Not hybrid, not remote,

in the office working. This is good for downtown Charlottesville. There is a push in 2025 away from hybrid work back to in-office work. If folks continue to cling with the hope and the dream of working in your tighty-whities, your BVDs, your bathrobe, at your home office, and doing everything via Zoom or Teams,

you are facing headwinds with that pipe dream. The return to work movement is happening. And it's frankly being led by the Fortune 50 and the finance firms of the world. And that's trickling down. And folks may not want to hear this. You work better when you're sitting next to your colleagues in person. A lot of people are going to give me shade on that.

But you know that's true, Judah. I know that's true. Judah may not want to sit next to me. But he knows that's true. Just what we did before the show started when we went over to the branding palette for one of our clients. 800 grand for the Chamber of Commerce building, D.C. engineering firm. Looking forward to them moving in. That's across the street from us. Let's go to some comments from Deep Throat. He's in Montana.

Speaking of remote. He said, wants to add some color on the Reeds thing. He says, Jerry and Judah, the Reeds thing was a little puzzling to me. If indeed there is a massive housing shortage, would it not have been more profitable for the Reeds owners and better for the city if they had shopped it around to developers? Or maybe multifamily housing in

Seville really isn't that profitable to build after all. I said on the Tuesday edition of the show, as a business person who makes his living in real estate, you may know us for this podcast and this show, but we make our living in real estate. I made the comment, not listing that building and allowing the free market to potentially get into a bidding war. Multiple bids, multiple offers, multiple parties interested, marketed and promoted and advertised a fantastic space, a fantastic building, literally is doing a disservice to the owners and the generations after them and their family tree. The purchasers of the Reeds building, it's a nonprofit that has top line revenue of a million three in sales, a thrift store, 1,300,000 top line revenue, a thrift store, nonprofit. I can assure you, and I can say this

with confidence and conviction that the purchase price, and it's going to be public record. It will be public record, just like the $800,000 purchase price, and it's going to be public record, it will be public record, just like the $800,000 purchase price is public record for the Chamber of Commerce building. It will be public record. When we know that number, we will be surprised. And I've heard through reliable sources that the nonprofit that purchased the building has a hefty, hefty, hefty, hefty mortgage associated with this buy. Other interested parties who could have purchased this building would have been straight cash, straight cash, straight paper. And another thing I want to add, the folks that are commenting about the roads being iced over in the city, the sidewalks and the bike lanes being iced over in the city,

this once again shows the advantage of being in a homeowner's association. The HOA neighborhoods in the city, remember, the city's responsible for plowing its roads, except for the roads in HOA neighborhoods in the city. And there are HOA neighborhoods in here. Heck, the Macklin building is a commercial condo association. We had to plow our sidewalks in our courtyards. The association has someone on call that does it and does it immediately. Yeah. Just throwing that out there. Carol Thorpe, let's get her photo on screen. She's lost 130 pounds. Props to you, Carol Thorpe, Gary Palmer, Bill McChesney. Welcome to the broadcast. City government, Carol Thorpe says, do you have the new photo for Carol

Thorpe? Keep it on screen. Everyone look at the screen. Congratulate Carol Thorpe on her quality of life journey. 130 pounds later, Carol Thorpe, you are ravishing. Well done, CT. Very well done. She says, city government would do itself a favor by walking its talk and leading by example to effectively clear snow and ice from the locations for which it is responsible by right or even default. I suspect timely compliance by residents would rise significantly if they felt the city was doing its job. I concur. Well said. Bill McChesney, his photo on screen, the mayor of McIntyre. I'm a former bus driver. Former bus driver says there are crooked, difficult roads in the county that make bus driving difficult. School buses are top heavy

and rear wheel drive. School buses slide all over the place and don't have much traction. Hey, I'm a father of two. I'm not saying Albemarle County should be open tomorrow. I respect the fact that they made the decision to close. I'm just highlighting the dichotomy of the private schools being operational yesterday

and Albemarle County Public Schools not being operational until potentially next week and we'll see how much damage the weekend storm causes. That's a dichotomy that needs to be highlighted. And Kevin Yancey makes the point the private schools aren't picking up kids on buses. I get it. He's 100% right. I understand it. It's still a dichotomy. Janice Boyce-Trevillian and Bill McChesney all congratulate Carol Thorpe. JBT says, and the restaurants are closed too in the area. Juan Sarmiento watching the program.

He congratulates Carol Thorpe. Congratulate Carol Thorpe on losing 130 pounds. He says, I've been working three overnights since Sunday, keeping the equipment running for the city. I will probably be in Friday night as well. Juan Sarmiento, we salute you for keeping the equipment running for the city of Charlottesville. And Juan Sarmiento, make sure you file that overtime. Is that pay and a half or is that double pay, Juan Sarmiento? Very curious. What's the OT look like for keeping the city equipment operational as the chief technician for city infrastructure, city equipment? Is that double pay? Is that pay and a half, Juan?

Conan Owen highlights Mel died. He didn't go out of business. And someone is doing battle with the city to replace it I can offer some perspective on that I highlighted this briefly the folks that purchased Mel's are going through a nightmare to open an absolute nightmare

with the city. It's a shame. The lease was signed months ago and they are not yet open. Yeah. That is legitimately

turning a wallet upside down, taking cash, putting it in a toilet, and flushing. To the point where second guessing of, should I have signed this lease and taken over this spot? No doubt. I've asked the owner if he'd like to come on the program. He says, when we finally open, I will.

And I'll talk about the trials of getting to this point. Wahoo 89 on YouTube, I believe he's watching in Nashville. When is the basketball team going to get their heads out of their tails and play Virginia basketball? Is this Ron Sajez's problem or the players? This is starting to look like the Dave Lato era. And he says, more snow is headed your way. We are expecting five to seven inches here in Tennessee tomorrow. Wahoo 89, we love when you watch the program. Is it Nashville you're watching in? He's watching on YouTube. E.G. Williams says, roses have stayed open a lot longer than I thought it ever would. Get the roses lower third on. Are the retail landlords adjusting their asking prices based on the significant move by customers to online retail options. I'll talk about that.

E.G. Williams, where are you watching from? You're watching on YouTube. What location are you watching from? E.G. Williams in Wahoo 89. Juan Sarmiento says, pay in a half, but it's double if the city offices are closed. We have a great admin assistant that keeps track of all our overtime.

Juan Sarmiento, I hope you rake in the money. Count every penny, every minute of work, Juan Sarmiento. Every minute of work. And charge it to taxpayers. I sincerely mean that. There should not be a penny that goes, a minute that goes uncounted. John Blair, it's worth pointing out that Green County has stopped snow days. They now have, what's, is it asynchronous? Why can't I say that

word? Asynchronous? Learning days in which kids are required to participate in online learning. Thank you, John Blair. I want to highlight that. I've highlighted that on previous shows. During the pandemic and COVID, we spent millions of dollars, millions of dollars setting up digital and online learning. Why did we just throw that away? Why did Alamaro County Public Schools, Judah, I'm sincerely asking you this question. Why did they not say we are going to learn on snow days digitally? Giving them one to go sledding is fine. You want one to build a snowman, to get the carrot for a nose, to get the rocks or the coal for the eyes, and to find a top hat and a scarf to make the snowman look like Frosty, take some pictures with your kids next to the snowman for the

Instagram or the Facebook or the family photo wall, that's fine. But two, three, and four days out of school, especially as it's next to Christmas break, is asinine, especially when you have the digital infrastructure in place for kids to learn at home. It's a quintessential example of the haves having more and the have-nots having less. I don't have a kid in school, so I don't know that this is the case, but I'm not sure what the cost of the upkeep

for continuing to have that infrastructure in place would be on an annual basis. Could it be that the cost of having something like that in place when Charlottesville and Albemarle don't have snow like this every year, would that be feasible? I'm just asking. I don't know. That's a good point. It's a fair point. It's a very fair point.

Very fair point. Green County's figured it out. Green County's adjacent to Albemarle County. Green County doesn't have the budget that Albemarle County does. 60% of Albemarle County's budget goes to Albemarle County Public Schools. Green County

figured it out. I understand the point you're making, though. That too is fair. I don't know the answer. Derek Bond. Moe's Barbecue and the Melting Pot are open. Support Derek Bond don't know the answer. Derek Bond. Moe's Barbecue and the Melting Pot are open. Support Derek Bond, friend of the program. We helped Derek Bond purchase Moe's on Ivy Road from Ashley and Mike Abrams. Derek Bond's a salt-to-the-earth human being, A-plus fella.

Had a fun time at Melting Pot for New Year's Eve. With your family? Yeah. What'd you get? Cheese and chocolate? A little protein? I mean, that's what they offer, right? Marlene Jones, HOA neighborhoods and city like Johnson Village, city clear streets,

residents clear sidewalks. Marlene Jones, I appreciate that. Next topic, Judah Wickauer. What do you got? I think we're still on roses. We moved. No, we got to talk roses. Roses closing. That's the chitter chatter, right? On the socials. Chitter chatter is that it's closing due to real estate prices. E.G. Williams is watching in Charlottesville. We love you, E.G. Williams, on YouTube. We got a language, words matter. Closing to real estate prices.

Is that rent? Most likely, I would think. This is all for some clarity, okay? This is our line of work. I would bet you a C-note. I'll bet you a C-note that Roses has a triple net lease. They're responsible for not just the rent, The taxes. The insurance. And the upkeep.

Of their portion. Of the Pantop shopping center. Their square feet. Their portion. They're paying rent. They're paying taxes. Insurance. Upkeep.

The chitter chatter. Has roses on the cusp of closing. Because they can no longer afford the overhead associated with that location. Have you been in roses lately? Not for years. I have not been in roses in a very long time. I think the last time I went into roses was the football season. This past UVA football season when my wife and I and our two boys went to a game, we were looking for a clear plastic bag where we could put all of our stuff in.

Because that's what you have to have when you walk through the gates at Scott Stadium now, a clear plastic bag. And when you have a two-year-old, he wasn't two at the time, that is diapers, that is his snacks. That's a lot of stuff. We went into Rose's to find a clear plastic bag, and it was startling what I experienced. No one, employee-wise, anywhere to help. The store, filthy and dirty, the inventory messy, cluttered, and even in the aisles, preventing easy navigation and walking. No one watching the door for theft, a stench in the store, unable to find what we were looking for. In and out in less than 10 minutes. I'll add this. Do you remember a time?

I think I saw this on. Where did I see this? I saw this somewhere. 20 years ago. 15 years ago. You used to go shopping at CVS. And the CVS shopping experience. Was.

Retail. Heaven heaven, shopping heaven. You'd go to CVS, the aisles were clean, people were happy to help you, you found what you needed, you got in, you got out. Now I want you, the viewer and listener, to go to CVS. I had to go to a CVS over the Christmas break, the holiday break, in Southampton, New York. Our two sons were sick. We had to get some daytime and nighttime Mucinex. In this particular CVS, there were 60 people at least. There was one employee working the register and trying to help people with self-checkout, also trying to prevent theft. There were five kids that were in there unattended that were running amok in the store. The CVS shopping experience in 2025 is akin to the shopping experience of Kmart

from 20 years ago. Remember when Kmart and Big Lots, 20 years ago, Kmart before it closed, it turned into a nightmare. At one time, Kmart, the shopping experience was fantastic. You'd go into Kmart. There was a Little Caesars associated with it. You can get a rectangle pizza and that delicious crazy bread with that red marinara sauce. You found what you needed on discount, and you left Kmart. And then at the end of Kmart, the shopping experience was grungy and dingy and gross. Riddle with shoplifting and inventory messy everywhere. That's what CVS has become.

The retail experience has become a bad dream. A bad dream. And I would anticipate we're going to see more big box brands locally close as well as mom and pop brands in the retail space close, as they succumb to the commoditization of online consumer shopping. Anything you want to add to that? Yeah, I think it doesn't help that the pay is not great. How can the pay be good?

I mean, it's one thing for... How can the pay be good if they can't sell it? It's one thing for a place like Rose's that's local. I think it's another thing for certain other businesses. But Rose's was probably, as you mentioned, on the decline for a long time. This may have been something that people that shop there on the regular saw coming. Ten minutes. Michael Payne's comments, if you put that lower third on screen. Do you have those comments in front of you?

Pretty close. Michael Payne is utilizing his platform as a city counselor to try to lobby the University of Virginia to pay some kind of property tax. What are those comments? Give me just a second to get that up here. And let's see. You just scroll up and find it. It's basically saying that the money that they would give, the money that they would pay in taxes,

would go a long way towards helping. All right, succinct, succinct here. Come on. $20 million would be the number if the University of Virginia paid property taxes in the city of Charlottesville. Is that number accurate? Yeah. He's saying even if they paid us half of that,

$10 million, this is what would happen if the University of Virginia paid a payment in lieu of taxes of $10 million a year. Remember, the foundation's got a $14.3 billion, $15 billion endowment. What did they say $10 million could do? Even just $10 million a year, about half of what UVA's tax liability might be, even that would be enough to fully pay for all public school facility upgrades over the next decade,

City Councilor Michael Payne told the Daily Progress. It would cover the entirety of our affordable housing commitment in our affordable housing strategy. It would have a very substantial impact in terms of what the city can afford to do. It's obviously true that UVA plays a critical role in the Charlottesville economy. I think the big question is if the benefits UVA provides are trickling, it ignored its own student body who passed a resolution suggesting that UVA pay, join the, you know, start a pilot program. They've largely ignored that. They have not entered into any real talks that we know of, and they insist that they do a lot for the city.

Obviously, they have their own campus police force. They've invested in the Ivy Corridor, but I think it's questionable whether those investments do as much to help the city as they do to help UVA. I'll cut to the chase. The University of Virginia is going to do whatever's best for the University of Virginia. The University of Virginia's economic impact is not an economic impact that is sprinkled across the socioeconomic spectrum. It's just not. The University of Virginia's economic impact is an economic impact that is going to spur or positively impact the upper middle class, the upper class, and the 1%.

And it's going to have a negative and devastating impact on the lower middle class, the working class, and lower. That's just facts. It's facts. City Council has zero influence over the University of Virginia. The student body has zero influence over the University of Virginia. The student body has zero influence over the University of Virginia.

The only community or the only effort, the only contingent that can influence the University of Virginia into paying a property tax is the power or the influence of the populace. If the community as a whole, a leader in the community, and I don't even think those leaders are on council, an influencer of some capacity, galvanize the community

or beat the drum on a consistent basis of the university paying property taxes and utilize public perception and the influence of the populace, that's how you persuade or you bully the university into actually contributing something to the city and the influence of the populace. That's how you persuade or you bully the university into actually contributing something to the city and the county. And they are the largest property owner in both jurisdictions. Pain's got no influence. All they can do is talk to the media. That's it.

Sam Sanders got no influence. Jim Andrews got no influence. Ned Galloway's got no influence. County executives got no influence. It's the populace that has the influence. Jim Andrews got no influence. Nat Galloway's got no influence. County executives got no influence. It's the populace that has the influence. It's also interesting to note that $10 million, half of their tax... What's the word?

Tax base? Responsibility. If they were to be paying it. $10 million would be less than half of a percentage of their budget. Insane. But $10 million would be like 5% of the city money, the city yearly budget. And the $20 million is nearly 10% of the city's budget the city yearly budget. And the 20 million is nearly 10% of the city's budget, which I think is what? $250 billion? $250 billion? $250 billion. $250 billion.

Is that the number? Yeah, something like that. Insane. Insane. Two other topics I believe we have. Put on screen two other topics, two other topics. They're tied together. Mortgage rates hit the highest level since July of 2024. And I want you to rotate that with the DOJ suing six of the nation's top landlords for price fixing. These, these compliment each other. When mortgage rates are the highest they've been since July of last year, it makes housing expensive and unaffordable. When the nation's six largest landlords utilize software and in-person conversation to determine rents, That's called price fixing.

That makes housing unaffordable and expensive. These landlords include Houston-based Camden, Graystar, Cushman & Wakefield, Livecore, Cortland, and Willow Bridge. Blackstone's also in the mix. My wife used to work for Blackstone. Together they control well over 1.3 million apartment units.

Insane. I believe some of them own apartment units here in the Charlottesville area. There's a couple of buildings I saw on Reddit in the Charlottesville area with these landlords. Yeah. And I think it's also worth noting that the software that they're using to collude with each other is available to other landlords and used by other landlords. RealPage is the software. It's a Texas-based company. RealPage is the software. It's a Texas-based company.

RealPage is the company. Its software is Yieldstar. So while I don't think everyone using the technology is involved in the collusion, I do think that it helps raise the prices everywhere because people using it are not going to, I don't think they're going to dig too deep into the software and what the software is doing, what the consequences are. And so while this group over there is working together to keep prices high, other people are using those costs.

John Blair watching on LinkedIn, he says it's absurd to think that UVA should pay a pilot payment in lieu of taxes. Here's why. And he shares a link to section three of the city of Charlottesville charter. I will read that when this show is over and include that as a topic tomorrow's program. Let's put that in the rundown. John Blair's comment of the pilot being absurd, and he's sharing a link to the city charter. And I just clicked the link and put it in my browser. The University of Virginia is excluded from the city in a number of ways. I mean, it's written down.

John Blair, you're a good man. It's number two in the family right there. I'll read that paragraph on tomorrow's show. We'll talk about it. I'll say this, okay? We have 26 rental units, this company. I personally am on the internet every day looking at what competing landlords are charging for rent. It is everywhere. It's on Craigslist. It's on LoopNet.

It's on Crexie. It's on the MLS. It's on social media. That information is readily available if you want to do a little, and you don't even have to work that hard to find it. Our rents are set or based on what other rents are. Is that price fixing or is that due diligence? Is that comparables or is that collusion? As I said, as I mentioned earlier, I don't think people using the software and people going by market, you know, current market value are not colluding. They're not price fixing, but they are affected by the collusion and the price fixing. I'll ask a follow-up question.

There's landlord associations or landlord meetups. Get together over coffee, cold beers, have conversation. A lot comes up in those meetings. Is that conversation or is that collusion? I definitely don't have the information to answer that. It's a very fine line. It is. It's a very fine line what's happening.

Because the mom and pop landlords are utilizing the data that's on the Internet to determine their prices. And the level-up from the mom-and-pops, call them the bigger landlords locally, are using meetups. They're using data on the Internet, maybe this real page software to determine prices as well. It's a fine line. This is happening in used cars, new cars, selling burritos and tacos, selling clothes. You set your prices based on what your competitors are doing. And if one competitor raises their price, you can cut their price to try to sell more widgets, or you can follow them to try to make more money and to fatten your margin. Is that price fixing or is that collusion?

Fine line. Thursday edition of the I Love Seville show. Judah Wickauer, Jerry Miller. Real Talk with Keith Smith is back tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. Keith Smith is in the house, ladies and gentlemen, 10.15 a.m. And we'll close the week with the I Love Seville show at 12.30. John Blair will talk your topic tomorrow. Thank you for watching the program.

So long, everybody. Thank you.