The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Erika Kirk To Speak At Western Albemarle In 24 Days; Baby Boomers Own 50% Of USA Small Businesses

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Erika Kirk To Speak At Western Albemarle In 24 Days Baby Boomers Own 50% Of USA Small Businesses How Will Spiking Gas Prices Impact CVille Area? CVille City’s 2-Cent Real Estate Tax Rate Increase After 25 Years, BitterSweet Clothing Closing Downtown What’s The Best Use For South Street Brewery Space? UVA In Quarterfinals Of ACC Tourney, Thurs, 12 PM Need CVille Office & Commercial Space, Contact Jerry 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, and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. A pleasure to connect with you guys on the flagship show on our network, the water cooler of content conversation in Charlottesville, Central Virginia, the Commonwealth and the country. A lot we're going to cover on the show. We're going to talk national topics. How we've got a global topic on today's show, spiking gasoline, and one of the direct collateral damages of a war in Iran on the program. We take national and global topics and we localize them to Charlottesville in central Virginia. How is escalating gas going to impact our community? And it's not just getting from point A to B. I saw $3.49 this morning, Judah. The Friday before the war was $2.79. There's some talk that we're going to get to $4 in gas by the end of the week.

We'll see if that materializes. It's certainly impacting the stock market this morning. and had a dramatic impact on the stock market last week. Gas is not just getting from point A to B in our cars or trucks or SUVs. We're talking an impact on fertilizer. We're talking an impact on transportation with cost of goods, groceries, materials, you name it. How is this going to impact the real estate market? Does escalating gas,

impact or soften the real estate market the further you get from the epicenter of employment. Are we talking an impact on demand in Augusta County and Rockingham County, an impact on Fluvanna, Louisa, Orange? Will potential buyers consider these individual markets at a much less rate? because they're concerned about driving to and from Charlottesville and Almar County for work and then back home and what $4 gas can mean to their household budget. I want to talk about that on the program today. I'm going to ask you the viewer and listener on today's show, what is the best use of the South Street brewery space?

I had a conversation this morning with a gentleman of significant influence, real estate and finance, investing in unconstitutional, and entrepreneurship owns more businesses than I even know of locally across so many different sectors and has hundreds of thousands of square feet of own real estate in his portfolio. He was talking about the booze business, beer business, and the dramatic drop and intake of beer, craft beer and booze as folks are not only tightening. their budget, but folks are more health conscious now than ever before. This whole concept of either being Cali sober, where you're smoking cannabis and marijuana and not drinking, or you're sober

across the board is new to America. I mean, I'll cut to the chase. Boos for so long has been seen as recession-proof alcohol. So many times folks have pointed to the great depression, the great recession, people still drank. Not so much now. What is the best use for the South Street brewery space, and if more breweries are to close, what is the best use for those respective spaces? How should landlords consider their brewery tenants moving forward? So many of these spaces are tailor-made for craft beer. Should landlords consider the vacancy and the potential length of the vacancy if they are sticklers for current lease terms or should those landlords consider massaging lease terms, adjusting lease terms to help an industry that is dying the death of a thousand cuts.

I mean, we're talking eight and nine dollars pints now at the local brew pub. How many of us can afford eight or nine dollars for a pint at the local brew put? and if the rents aren't adjusted, will we see more to fall? I have highlighted on today's show that we know of nearly a dozen food and beverage businesses that will announce their closing in the near future. One of them just happened. South Street, this has been in the works for some time.

We will highlight these closings as they continue. We won't break the news. about the closing, but we will certainly analyze them. And speaking of clothing, closings, a clothing store, Bittersweet Boutique on the downtown mall is now shunning at stores after 25 years in business. Bitter Sweet Boutique, 25 years with multiple locations, not just in Charlestville, and an online store, is closing effective the very near future. We'll talk about that on the program, We'll talk Almore County School Board on the program today. Very interesting timing that Allison Spillman, the at-large member of the Almore County School Board,

has posted a new profile picture of her. Are we able to get that at all? No, you don't even have to worry about it. I'm not even sure. I find the timing crazy. Her new profile picture is not of her face, not of a picture of identifying markers of any capacity. It's a picture of her neck while wearing a necklace and the charm on the necklace says troublemaker on it. Trouble maker on the necklace. Do we want our school board members to be

troublemakers? That's a question. We should talk about on the show. We'll talk Virginia basketball in the ACC tournament. La Wahoos play Thursday at noon, a game we will follow certainly very close We encourage you, the viewer and listener, to join us in the discussion by offering your comments, your ideas, your perspective, and the comment sections on whatever social media platforms you're watching upon. This share airs on absolutely every single one of them. You will help shape the show, just like Conan Owen did today. He's the owner of Surf Media, Central Virginia.

He sent Headline 2 to us, which is a monikered Silver Tsunami. Half of the businesses in the United States of America are owned small businesses by baby boomers that are 55 years or older. And not many of these have secession plans in place. What is the impact of a silver tsunami in the United States of America as business owners age out of their small businesses and don't have a past the baton plan in place? We'll talk about that. on the I Love Seville show today. Judah Wickhauer, if you can go to the studio camera first, and then let's highlight 919 Druid Avenue.

Katie Mullins and Chris Koiner and Ben Mullins are the team behind 919 Druid Avenue. It's a remodeled Belmont Cottage, and it's for sale now. The asking price is $699,000. 919 Druid Avenue. It has an income-producing basement apartment with its own exit and entrance. This is a fantastic house that will have an eight-handle in the very near future at 919 Druitt Avenue. If you're looking for something that is literally close to everything, Charlottesville, in particular the downtown mall, downtown Belmont, and walking distance to Midtown and Beyond,

four bedrooms, four bathrooms, 2,197 square feet. VIII 919 Druitt Avenue and downtown Charlestville. Katie Mullins, Bed Mullins, and Chris Coiner, the team behind this fantastic listing. Judah Wickhauer, two shot for you, my friend. I'm curious of your favorite topic on the show. It does not have to be in the rundown. As always, you're a key contributor to this program.

My friend, what is on your mind today? I think this discussion of Silver Tsunami is interesting. seeing a lot of, you know, as we have seen businesses close and some open around here as well. It's an interesting, interesting to discuss what's going on with the boomers, not passing on their businesses and where that leaves us and what those gaps in our storefronts means for, not just local economy, but economy is across the United States. We'll talk about that, and we want to highlight the positives as well. Maggie's in Midtown, a pub in the old Blue Moon diner spot on schedule to open soon.

I believe you tried the new LaMichalcana location on High Street. I have not been to the new one yet. The old Domino's Pizza on Stewart Street. La Mieto Kana is a fan favorite of yours. Oh, yeah. They've moved to a new spot. more space Judah Wickhauer loves tacos

tacos as Judah has indicated on the show are his spirit animal I would hope perhaps your schedule permitting you try it soon and you can report back to the viewers and listeners what the La Mijalcana new location is like yeah definitely so there is good news

out there not everything is closing not everything is closing we try not to highlight just the closings although they seem to to dominate the news cycle We highlight the Stefan Freeman collapsed empire a couple of weeks ago with seven storefronts and eight businesses closing, thanks to Stefan Freeman.

We highlighted last week the closing of South Street Brewery, 28 years in business, the oldest brewery in Charlottesville. We have been told there's another one that is closing, brewery locally. The bittersweet news on the downtown mall, the clothing boutique is one that is sad. 25 years in operation for Bitter's Sweet. We will get to that on the show today.

That is a storefront on the downtown mall. I would be extremely cautious for, you know, Sam Sanders and city council to push this two-cent real estate tax rate increase forward that just is less money in the pocket for everyone at the same time that gas prices are escalating. I had a conversation yesterday about gas prices and why it's dot. dominating conversation and the new cycle. It's because it's a tax across the board. Yeah.

It's a tax across the board. And it affects everything. There's seven Americans that have now died tied to this war in Iran. And whether it's five weeks or whether it's months, however long this war will continue, we know it's going to impact our country in a lot of ways, whether it's retirement accounts and 401Ks, or just what we're paying at the pump, and we'll talk about that on the show. I think the lead of the program has got to be 24 days.

There's going to be a shot clock or a day counter on the I Love Seville Show until Erica Kirk is scheduled to speak at Western Amaral High School, April 2nd for Erica Kirk, who may be the second most polarizing person in the United States today? I would say Trump is the most polarizing. Who is the second most polarizing human being in our country today?

Most polarizing, man. I know Federman gets a lot of people's hackles up. I'd say Erica Kirk, viewers and listeners, what do you say? Is the second most polarizing person in the United States today? Ray Cadill is watching the program. He says, Lami Chocana has a new location. Where, please?

It's what have been one of my favorites for years. the old dominoes on Stewart Street. Yeah, it's literally like less than a stone's throw from its old location. If you go from the storefront that Lami Chowacana was in, follow the road down to Stewart Street and take a right. It's right there in the middle of the road. You can't miss it. Ray Cadill, I'll ask you that question.

Erica Kirk's second most polarizing person in the country today. William McChesney, I'll ask you that question. Philip Dow, Vanessa Parkhill, Janice Boyce Trevillian, handsome Hank Martin. What are your thoughts on that? John Blair. April 2nd, lunchtime speech and presentation to the Western Almaro chapter of TPSA. We had the chapter president, Noah, coffin on the program on Thursday of last week. Very well watched show and listen to show.

Almar County is responded to Erica Kirk's speech by pushing policy forward. announcement of her speech. She hadn't even made a speech. Has it even made the speech? She's going to talk about, I don't think. Right. Right. Shows you the impact of someone of Erica Kirk's either notoriety or what's the opposite of notoriety? Oh, man. She's either infamous. Yeah, infamy. Infamy. She's either, depending on your ideology, it's notoriety or infamy. I mean, I don't know why anybody would say that there's anything infamous about her

if our viewers care to chime in, is there anything you can think of that she is said or written? We saw the comment section last week. Extremely passionate viewers and listeners who would say infamy is the word, at best, that you would use for Erica Kerr. Was it? Yeah, yeah. I remember plenty of stuff.

Oh, it was both. It was split evenly. No, no. I just don't remember any specifics about anything that she's said or done. I could tell you some. Okay. Her ties to, you know, sexual predator with children. Her ties? Yeah.

Because of Trump? A lot of... But that's not anything that she said or done. Not just tied to Trump. There was... And this is just what viewers and listeners have said, not our words. All right. The chatter that's in the national news.

Not just ties with Trump, but herself personally. Her ties to driving a narrative of... white nationalism, her ties to exploiting Christianity to gain in curry favor with an impressionable up-and-coming generation, the indoctrination of potentially the youth to create the next generation of, air quotes, spirit warriors or politics warriors for her movement. There was a number of labels or descriptions utilized against Erica Kirk. I was also taken aback with how many people

on the other side of the fence were supportive of her coming. Judah Wickhauer and I, I don't want to speak for you. This is my entire position throughout all this hoopla has been the expression of free speech and the

acceptance of having presenters or speakers on both sides the aisle having time to speak. This was going to happen during lunchtime. Are we talking specifically about Western Albemoral High School? Absolutely. So do they need a... They're comparing and contrasting, and then you jump in. I got pushback last week. Oh, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. You had issues with the student ICE truancy protests. We had issues with schools just willy-neemly letting kids leave the campus. I mean, that's nuts.

My issues with the student ICE truancy protests were kids leaving schools on chaperone and missing classroom time. The comparison was made with my commentary, and this is not journalism, this is commentary, and it said, Jerry, you don't have the same outcry with Eric Kirk. What does that say about you and your politics? It says nothing. Eric Kirk is speaking with students during. lunch time. Yeah. They are not missing classroom time.

My whole issue with the student truancy ice protest was the missing of class time. Mm-hmm. That was my issue. I was all four students and their First Amendment rights, their freedom of, their expression of freedom of speech. Yeah. I'm personally glad that they're, you know, that they're politically, they're invested politically in our country. My issue was the missing of class time. My issue with the Admiral County School Board, did you get the photo of the necklace?

Yeah. I can't believe I'm even talking about this. I think she's just trolling. This is trolling, right? Yeah. Excuse me, I was going to use the right term here. Can you describe, this is the at-large school board member, Allison Spillman, on social media, when clearly her social media is followed and an updated picture.

here it is excuse me it's on screen now this is trolling is it not trolling judah i mean i don't know why anyone for instance

an elected official mind you yeah but she's putting it on like i don't know it's uh you know i have no problem with trolling most of the time it's as long as it's done in uh you do you don't have problem with trolling

when it's an elected official it's not like she's going on someone else's page and showing it off you know it's not like she's I I mean you know what we're changed her profile picture I don't see a problem with that if if it's seen as trolling then that's fine we're responding to the trolling we're giving her exactly what she wants by talking about on the show right now I don't I don't care I mean what if if you're going if you're going to someone's

Facebook page and and getting angry about their profile picture, I'm sorry, but there are things that are far more important at least in my life than caring what somebody puts on their profile picture. Jason Noble's watching the program, and he offers a comment on one of the 15 Facebook pages this show is watching upon.

And Jason Noble, his photo on screen, and this comment's hopping is being published on other pages as well. And Mr. Noble, who have a lot of respect for, Jason Noble, who have a lot of respect for, says, did you guys see by chance that Allison Spillman and Dr. Matthew Hoss were at Western Albemarle High School and the social media team with Alamara County Public Schools filmed a video with Dr. Hoss, the superintendent, Allison Spillman, and the principal at Western Amaral High School about all the good times and good things that are happening at Western. I did see that.

I did see that published on the Amarral County Public Schools page. I also have that comment published on other pages. For example, Carlos Ibnus Franco says Spilman and Haas conveniently decided to visit Wass last week together, Wast Western Amaral High School. That's called damage control or trying to manage optics, what ACPS is doing there. I think at this point, we are all sophisticated enough to see through those ploys. And in referencing the troublemaker necklace that she posted, I'll give her props. I'm going to give her props on the show.

Kudos to Spillman for having a show on her personality. Kudos to Spillman for being authentic to her true self. Kudos to Spillman for not giving us just the same mumbo-jumbo, towed the company line of ACPS. You know what? We have a school board member. I disagree with just about everything she stands for. But we have a school board member that is authentic.

And from a content creator standpoint, that gives us something to talk about. So I'll tell you what, Alison Spelman, you watch the program, you hear the show, you're constantly in the spotlight on this show. I would say from this show standpoint, from an infamous standpoint, not a notoriety standpoint,

But one thing I will say is you are not boring and in the background and predictable. You have now become the face of the school board. And regardless viewers and listeners, we are 24 days in counting from maybe the most infamous person not named Donald Trump speaking in Crozet at Western Amar High School. You pushed back on that? I just, I mean, the whole thing is absurd. trying to get her locked out of coming to the school. Like, I honestly don't know.

I'm baffled by anyone that would be scared of something that Erica Kirk has to say. You know, I just, maybe my imagination is failing in my old age, but I just... I also don't think you're that familiar with what Erica Kirk's commentary or presentations or any of her talking points are. I mean, I've got a fair idea about what Turning Point USA is about. What is she possibly going to say that... Then why such the explosive fallout last week? The same reason? Because they're easy targets.

Because they don't want the kids at Turning Point USA to have anything nice. No, I'm kind of joking about that, but seriously. Like, there's no reason to block the Turning Point USA kids at Western Albemarle High School from having speakers. I can't imagine that any speaker they're going to bring is going to say anything more divisive than what their last speaker said. And even that is, I mean, Allison Spillman can be offended that somebody wants to talk about. about two genders, whatever. But what effect does that have on you or anyone else around you? None. Ginny Who's watching the program. She says, well, to be fair, Allison Spillman's necklace appears very close to cursive. So the majority of students at Western Amar High School who support her causes

will not be able to read that anyway because they certainly don't know cursing. Ginny who is throwing shade. It's a very good point. I actually responded to Ginny Who's tweet by giving her props for the shade. Yeah, that's a great point. Wild times. We'll keep an Erica Curt counter on the program today. Second headline, Judah Wickcaro. What do you got? Baby boomers.

Conan Owen sent this to me, and I want to give some love to a business that does have a secession plan, and it's Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. And they've had a secession plan for three generations, as you highlight one of the partners of our show, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. John Vermillion passing the business to Andrew Vermillion, his son, just like John Vermillion got the business from his parents, the first generation.

Charlestful Sanitary Supply has been in business for 62 years, and if it's swimming pool related, if it's cleaning supplies related, sanitary related, vacuum-related, vacuum repair-related water testing, or fantastic shades or coverings for the outside of your home, if you want to enjoy the backyard of your house and a shaded capacity, they have a solution for. that. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply and Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company are who you contact. They have an e-commerce store with free delivery, often the same day, at price points that beat the big box brands, and their swimming pool company, Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company.com is who you contact for anything swimming pool related. They have a secession plan. But as Conan highlighted to me, national data suggests, and this is very intriguing to me, there's a silver tsunami on the horizon. Baby boomers own 50% of the businesses in the United States of America. And of those 50%, about half of a secession plan in place, the remaining are uncertain what they are

going to do. Small businesses employ more than 62 million Americans and account for roughly 43% of the U.S. GDP gross domestic product, according to the U.S. small business administration. I'm very curious to see what happens as small business owners that are baby boomers, Judah, have the following going on in their lives. Are you ready? You know this as well as I do. Exhaustion from running a business during the pandemic. Significant debt accrued. during COVID that is now coming due,

escalating rents, labor that is extremely expensive, big box store competitors that have pivoted to technology and artificial intelligence to fat margins, while the small business owner does not have that skill set at their disposal yet. Small business owners that are baby boomers,

have obscene amount of equity with their homes, if they own a home, and most baby boomers do. And that obscene amount of equity that they have in their houses, baby boomers, eventually they're going to say, you know what, I have hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity in my home. Why am I killing myself at this small business? To scrape by and make nothing. Isn't it time that I go to the Redneck Riviera,

Myrtle Beach, or somewhere in South Carolina, or Florida, and enjoy life in a much more affordable cost of living environment as I head to, you know, my final years, if not decades on this planet. And if this silver tsunami does have an impact on, say, America, our economy, our local economy, what exactly is it? Judah, you said this topic was one that was fascinating for you. well we I mean we see constantly we see the churn of of businesses around Charlottesville places opening places closing as you mentioned earlier oftentimes the closings get more

get more pressed than the openings but it's interesting that you're right the boomers are are aging and they're aging out of their businesses and once there's once nobody is taking over those businesses they just are closings and we end up with empty sore fronts

and when the way I see it when when somebody goes looking for you know when somebody goes looking for an L. Joe's or you know that's a good example of one boys and men's clothing store on the downtown mall and they find them closed, they find an empty storefront, they, you know, they look

online and they don't find a similar, you know, a similar type of store. Well, the easiest thing to do is what most of us, sadly, are doing anyways, just go to Amazon or a similar online, you know, store like that. And that's one last time that we're going to go driving, looking for that type store around Charlottesville in this case because the next time you're like well I'm not going to go driving around the city or I'm just going to stay and stay home and order what I'm looking for and I just feel like if this is if this silver tsunami is really coming where where I see the slack getting getting pulled in is by is by the big chains and And so, you know, you can't stop someone from wanting to retire, and you can't force them to sell their business.

So we just have to hope that, you know, the younger generations can pick up the slack, will pick up the slack, and continue this tradition of the American dream, of running a business, of being your own, your own boss. and creating something of value for the people in your community. This is Judas Point Sysically. A silver tsunami, baby boomers retiring with no secession plan in place, means big box brands, the Fortune 500 companies, gain more market share. And as the Fortune 500 companies, with their artificial intelligence advantages, with their tech stack, their capital to deploy, gain more market share. That means more friction and headwinds for Main Street USA, for Small Business USA.

Handsome Hank Martin is watching the program, his photo on screen. He says, I'm aware of three small business owners who have non-family staff willing to continue the business, but are unable due to the constrained economy. they cannot rum enough nickels together to carry it forward. Yeah, I'm sure that's the case in a lot of these situations. Handsome Hank Martin also says, when gas prices surge, commuting becomes a pay cut. Restaurants lose staff, construction slows, service jobs go unfilled, tourists make fewer trips, wineries and small businesses feel it next. The sad irony, very few people who make Charlottesville work are the ones priced out.

the very few people who make Charlottesville work are the ones priced out of living and working here. They're punished again and again at the pumps. Fuel prices don't just raise costs. They expose the fragility of the entire economy, certainly at the local level. Handsome Hank Martin, very well said. Lonnie Murray is watching the program. He lives in Whitehall in the Crozet area, in Almar County. He says, Jerry, maybe mentioned the situation in Florida with the group chat with the T-P-USA, FIU,

chapter president. And he says, I'd say, one of the most problematic things about TPSA is who they want, who they include in their big tent, air quotes, which can include some rather unsavory people. Now is that guilt by association? Maybe. But a group of that size should be definitely doing more internal policing. And then he shares a link in my comment section from the Miami Herald about the TPSA Florida chapter. There's no doubt that the TPPUSA, say local chapters like the what in Western Nomeral High School are being labeled or stigmatized, hated,

catching shade, despise because of the affiliation with Trump and what they're doing at a national level. Without question, that's what's happening. We know that. My entire stance on ICE truancy student

protest and Erica Kirk is we should support freedom of expression as long as it doesn't mean missing class time. and Erica Kirk was scheduled to speak at lunchtime. And ICE truancy protests included missed class time. That's my whole issue. Yeah.

Whole issue. I would not want Erica Kirk to speak at Western Amaral High School if it means kids are missing calculus or history or geometry or Spanish. I would have an issue with that. Patrick Bull is watching the program. First, he highlights John and Andrew Vermillion as being awesome people, Patrick Bull does. We're going to have to get Patrick Bull's photo on screen. He's been commenting on the show, and it looks like he's a great addition to the show.

He said, you've identified it correctly, Jerry, in regards to small business. This adds to the many reasons Almore County and Charlottesville must make it easier for small business to survive. Additional meals taxes are damaging. Taxes of any kind are damaging, especially to low margin businesses. That's why this Charlottesville City real estate tax rate increase. Can you imagine, I find this to be, maybe it's the phrase is the nerve of Charlottesville government to impose a two-set real estate tax rate now? And Lloyd Snook is showing some common sense by saying, hey, we need to go into our reserve fund to try to find this additional money we need that's specifically tied to collective bargaining. right now the manager of the city, Sam Sanders, is asking us to raise the real estate tax rate two cents.

And Lloyd Snook, who's a business owner, he's like, if we raise the real estate tax rate two cents, this is going to impact everyone in Charlottesville, and it's going to most impact the middle class and the lower class, because the upper class has the reserves. We have this K-shaped economy here, right? This K-shaped recovery. The upper class, the wealthy, are... minting money with stocks and equities. Now, last week was a roller coaster ride,

but for the most part, stocks and equities are on fire. Trump has always been able to point to stocks and equities, the stock market and his term, his time in the White House. Always. He points to that.

And the very large part, him pointing to stock market is something that he waves the flag and champions. Look at what I'm doing. look at me, look at what I'm doing. And he does it all the time. Because it's an easy metric to pretend like you're actually the one saving the stock market.

Exactly. But it's a metric that is not a true indicator of the health or the vitality or the stability of the American economy. Yeah. It's too irrational right now. It's not one that is well distributed, a well-distributed identifying metric for American households. Yeah. Okay. A metric that is

one that you can point to that is well distributed across American households is gas. That's why he made such a big deal about it in the state of the union. Right? Yeah. That's an identifiable across the board metric.

So when Sam Sanders and city council say let's raise the tax rate two cents, they must realize that the people most impacted by this are the middle class and the lower class. It's not going to be the wealthy. Even people that are not the wealthy are never affected.

Even the people that are non-homeowners will be impacted by this. The timing of this is absolutely awful. Now, council and city hall will say, oh, we have no control about gas going out of control and spiking. That's not on us. That's what Trump's

doing. You do have some control. And Snook is pointing it out. We could dip into our reserves to keep the two-set and tax rate from happening. And Sam Sanders is straight up saying, and then you jump in here. Sam Sanders is straight up saying why we need a two cent real estate tax rate increase is because of the collective bargaining that's happening,

the unionization that is happening. That may be true, but there are a lot of places where we spend money as a city. And I think I was trying to point this out last week on the list of things that we are, you know, that are tax money in charge. Charlottesville is paying for, one of those things is, uh, is climate change. I don't know where that money is going. Maybe it's going to, to, you know, a good, uh, a good cause,

a good place. Uh, maybe they're spending it wisely, but I point this out to point out the fact that largely what our city is spending money on is opaque, at least to me. And, Yes, I understand that collective bargaining is driving up the amount of money that we need for everything, but do we need everything? I don't know. I know that the city council has a difficult... We're pounding money into public transportation. I talked about this on the show yesterday. We're pounding money into public transportation, whether it's electric buses, whether it's new buses,

whether it's bus routes, whether it's more money for the bus drivers. And the engagement for this public transportation, actual ridership, is dropping. We live in a community where we're pounding money, taxpayer resources, into public transportation, yet the demand for public transportation is diminishing. We live in a community where we're spending $6 million to buy a homeless shelter and need another $5 to $6 million to bring the homeless shelter online, yet the homeless shelter is not going to be open for three years. Yeah.

Think about that. We live in a city or we work in a city. I live in Almore County. He lives in Almore County. We work in a city where Alamara County's economic development is eating the launch of Charlottesville's economic development. I want you to think about that. Say that again? Al Morrow County's economic development is eating Charlottesville's economic development offices lunch.

Almore County's economic development. Biotechnology. Greatly outpacing cities. Almore County's economic development. Let's see the impact of this direct flight to Boston. Almore County's economic development. Data science. Now, Elmore County has the advantage.

They have more land. They have the University of Virginia. Charlottesville's land cap. But I have a sincere question for the viewers and listeners that are watching the program. Here's a very good question for you, the viewers and listeners. What has Charlottesville done city specifically from an economic development standpoint that you can point to? Viewers and listeners that are watching this program. Give me the top three.

economic development, innovation, drivers, strategies that city hall has done. Chris Angle, we're talking about your department here. Since COVID. Downtown Mall ambassadors. The clean team? You asked for... No, no.

You're top three and you're... That's the first one that came to March. First one you came to Mike. You're an extremely intelligent person. You are as well-read because you've prepare for this show as just about anyone in this community. Because Monday through Friday, we're doing a talk show that we have to talk about stuff we read. Judah's intelligent, he's educated, he's well read, he's become a fantastic commentator.

Fantastic commentator. And the first thing that Judah mentions for economic development from City Hall in the six years since COVID is a couple dozen people hired by a Louisville Kentucky firm that are entrusted and instructed to clean the downtown mall, the clean team, $1.2 million in taxpayer revenue over a two-year period of time. Somebody's got to do it. I have, I'm being genuine here. What has Charlottesville City done from an economic development standpoint since COVID? Anyone, help me. I can point to a dozen things that Al Morrow County has done.

Emily Kilroy, the Economic Development Director at Elmore County. A dozen things. I can rattle. What has Charlott'sville done? That's a topic for a talk show. I don't know. Can anyone, is the economic development buying an office building on holiday drive? That they're not going to open for three years and need anyone?

from $10 to $15 million to bring it to market? Is that what we say? It's certainly not the policy for limiting homelessness and camping on the downtown mall. Which didn't happen. What has it done to support the business? I mean, Bonnie and Reed,

draft tap brew, Vite spirits, Ace Biscuit and Barbecue, the wine gill, Omaha Obscura What is it called? I think you were closed. Omicasse Obscura.

Old Metropolitan Hall. Bitter Sweet. Clothing boutique. South Street Brewery. Have a conversation with the guy who's running the business where Mel's cafe used to be located and the hoops that he had to jump through

to get his restaurant open. Yeah. Just have a conversation with that person. Gary Grant watching the program. He says, the number one thing that Charlottesville City's economic development office is done is keeping the 21 million in revenue sharing the contract in place with Al Morrow County.

The number two thing, Gary Grant, comment on the program more. You know this community inside and out. He says, here's my top three things that Charlottesville's economic development office has done to drive the economy forward. Number one, keep the $21 million revenue sharing agreement that's in place with Elmore County. Number two, keep the 21 million in revenue sharing that's in place from Malmorrow County. And number three, keep the 21 million in revenue sharing that's in place from Malmorrow County.

So 10%, what is Charlottesville City's budget? Isn't it 20 to the Charlestville City's budget is what, $274 million? 274 million proposed budget. Roughly 10% of the proposed budget is the revenue that comes from Malmorrow County every year. 9%. And he's basically saying the best thing the city has done is not screwed up. That's what I hear. I want you to think about that.

Neil Williamson is watching the program, president of the Free Enterprise Forum. Curtis Shaver says, Jerry, you make sure you highlight Jerry every single time that Judah Wick Cower is single and ready to mingle. So ladies, get in Judah's DMs. Slide in Judah's DMs. It's clearly not working, so. I don't understand it. Why isn't it working? Neil Williamson's watching the program.

Conan, I'm going to get to your comment in a moment. Conan, help make the show better today by suggesting content that we are utilizing on the show. Thank you, Conan. Neil Williamson says, from the city's Economic Development Office website, the city of Charlottesville, the Office of Economic Development,

has released its 2025 annual report highlighting a year of strong economic momentum, expanded workforce pathways and continued investment in entrepreneurship and placemaking. The report outlines progress made in year two of the Office of Economic Development from 2024 to 28, the Economic Development Strategic Plan with coordinated action across equitable entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce development, creative, placemaking, storytelling for investment. I don't even understand what that means.

And these aren't Neil Williamson's words. These are straight from the Office of Economic Development. This is word salad. That's what I heard. I don't even understand what that means. I didn't hear any specifics in there that would lead me to believe that anything had actually been done. This is what the Office of Economic Development is saying on its website. We are doing economic momentum by expanding workforce pathways and continued investment in entrepreneurship and placemaking.

We are doing equitable entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce, workforce, development and creative placemaking and storytelling. What the F does that need? I haven't a clue. I'm going to tell you right now. You know two words that don't go hand in hand?

Equitable entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship and running a business and operating a business is a fight for a knife in the mud. Entrepreneurship and running a business doesn't care if you're black, white, Puerto Rican, or whether you're Jewish, Southern Baptist, Protestant, Christian, atheist, or agnostic.

It doesn't care if you have family money or no money. All it cares about entrepreneurship is, will you work hard? It doesn't even really care if you work hard, honestly. There's so many entrepreneurs that work their ass off that fail. It's a little bit of luck. It's about hedging risk. coming up with a way to serve a niche in the market

that is underserved and always under promising and over delivering. Conan Owen is watching the program. He's an entrepreneur. He knows what this is all about. The city has provided local businesses with higher property taxes. The city has provided local businesses

with higher meals taxes. The city has provided local businesses with higher lodging taxes. The city has created local businesses. a less safe environment. The city has created a more expensive parking ecosystem, and the city has made it ridiculously cumbersome to get licenses and approvals of any capacity. This is a small business owner Conan Owen, whose entire business like ours, we have a consultancy. We drive market share for businesses through optimizing real estate positions, through driving

financing help, branding help, strategy help. Conan does it by serving businesses through their signage needs. That's succinctly. Whenever there's a new business, they need a new sign. If they close, they need a sign to say they're closing. If they open, they need a sign to say they're opening. Here's where we are. If they're expanding, they need a sign to say they're expanding.

Yeah. It's like the guys that are often first hired and, last fired in small business, it's the numbers people, it's the accountants. The accountants and the numbers guys, the bookkeepers, are the first hired and the last fired. It's just how it is. Conan's in that category, first hired and last fired. And he's straight up saying, this is what the city has done for my clients.

Higher property taxes, higher meals taxes, higher lodging taxes, a less safe environment, more expensive parking options, and it's made it extremely cumbersome to get any licensing or approvals. Patrick Bull says what was just read from the Office of Economic Development website is word salad. Patrick Bull says as a former

CFO and one who prepared a county budget, believe me, I can tell you all about it. Welcome to the family, Patrick Bull. We hope you comment on the program more. Janice Boyce Trevillian is watching the show. Gary Grant says this. Hey, Charlesville Economic Development Office.

Activity is not achievement. Comments are coming in quickly on the pro. Maybe I can task you viewers and listeners with some homework. John Blair, I'm going to get to your comment here. Can I task the viewers and listeners with some homework? Give me three items that you can point to. Three economic development strategies or outcomes that have been driven by City Hall in Charlottesville City.

the list is extremely long in Amar County but give me three from Charlottesville City please I'm open-minded to your ideas John Blair I think the biggest issue his photo on screen and the silver tsunami is a question of financing you just don't see banks willing to lend to long-time employees for these transactions

so if a child doesn't want to continue the business the best move the owner can make is to liquidate the personal and real property of the business. That's true, partially. I will say this. There is nobody in the entire Central Virginia region, and these are facts, and I say this humbly.

Do they see a rotating logo on screen for Charlottesville business brokers? Does that rotate on screen? Should eventually. Charlottesville business brokers is a division of our firm, the Miller organization. humbly, factually, and straightforwardly, there's no firm in a 300,000-person region called Central Virginia

that is doing more business brokerage transactions than our firm. In overwhelmingly large capacity, how our clients are either buying or selling businesses is in one of two ways. Cash transactions or seller-fi transactions, finance transactions. In overwhelming majority, and it's not 50%, it's not 55%,

I'm talking probably three out of the four deals we do, the seller of the business, and oftentimes it is a boomer, is having to carry paper and finance the deal themselves. Often that requires 10

to 25% of upfront non-refundable skin in the game. And the remaining balance financed in some capacity, generally in a term of three to ten years, at an interest rate that's agreed upon to both sides. I generally structure it somewhere around the prime rate. I don't like a rate that floats. I want it fixed over the period of time.

And that's how we are selling, helping folks get in and out of businesses locally. Probably in the neighborhood since COVID of nearly three dozen businesses, we've helped sell. The financing, he's exactly right. It's very hard to find. And everyone's like, oh, get an SBA loan. Oh, you get an SBA loan. Oh, if you've ever tried to apply for an SBA loan and gone through the SBA process,

be prepared to have every financial instrument and documentation ready. ready and then be prepared to offer your firstborn child as collateral. It is not easy. The seller finance structure is way easier with the seller and the buyer. Comments are coming in quickly on the program. Vanessa Park Hill is watching the show. She says Charlottesville City government is focused on becoming a better Robin Hood. And you know, the socioeconomic demo that's,

Facing the impact of that, facing the brunt of that is the middle class. The middle class is just being eviscerated by Charlottesville. Comments, put them in the feed, we'll relay them live on air. We're 62 minutes into the show. I want to give some love to Stanley Martin Holmes. Stanley Barton Holmes is a partner of the show. Stanley Barton Holmes is a trusted builder and developer. Probably you're looking at your most prolific.

builder in central Virginia. Stanley Martin is dedicated to building homes that cater to each person's unique needs and lifestyles. High quality single family homes, town homes, condominiums, design and constructed with innovative techniques that ensure exceptional efficiency and aesthetic appeal. Stanley Martin Holmes uses design features and technology to enhance living experiences. Trusted in this game. Stanley Martin Holmes.

Bitter Sweet is closing on the downtown mall. Did you get that photo on screen, that headline on screen? 25 years in business, the owner of BitterSuite posted a social media post recently and said, we're closing. We're closing all our locations. We're closing our e-commerce store. We're going to do a fire sale and we're shutting the doors. It's time for a new chapter.

This is the message. After 25 incredible years in business, we are closing this chapter of BitterSuite. All store locations. our online shop will be closing. Our final sale begins tomorrow. Everything will be discounted as we wind down over the next few weeks. Small businesses are the heart of our community. We hope you'll continue to support and shop small

because it truly makes a difference. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being a part of our story all these years. 25 years in business for Bitter Sweet, ladies and gentlemen. They are on the downtown mall at 106 East Main Street. 25 years in business. Judah Wickhauer. This is sad.

Yeah. This is sad. This is throwing in the towel because the margins don't make sense anymore. Now you got South Street brewing clothes. What is the best use for South Street brewery? The Woodard property zones the South Street brewery location. What is the... I mean, it's...

I want you to think... You've been a South Street Brewery, right? Yeah, it's been a while. there? What if it's not a brewery is going to go in the South Street brewery space? How much money is going to be needed to return the South Street brewery space into a white box for someone to envision what to put in that location that's not a brewery? Yeah. Here's a follow-up question. What do you do with all the brewery equipment?

Yeah. Go ahead. I mean, that's the more than... More than just any, what, updates they want to do to the interior, I mean, you're going to have to get rid of all those tanks, everything they were doing the brewing in. I doubt that's going to be an easy, an easy cleanup job. You're talking thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars just to get the brewery equipment out.

Yeah. Just to get it out. I would imagine the best. they could do would be to find someone locally that wants them. Okay, follow-up question for you. Who would open a brewery in this economy and this

ecosystem where millennials, gen alpha, gen Z, are not drinking. Yeah. Who would open a brewery right now? What? Seriously. I can only see doing it if you had a really good concept that included something like a food concept or South Street's food was the best of all the brew pubs except for maybe

salvage. I put salvages slightly above it and salvage their menu was smart, small menu that's executed well. But South Street, the cheese curds, the wonta nachos, the hand, the sandwiches, they were great. Yeah. Last time I was there, I think, was a Sunday for brunch. It was good stuff. They have a full bar. They are in a lot of ways a sports bar. They have a ton of seating. They're next to a parking lot. Yeah.

They have one of the largest bars in the city. I genuinely, I genuine question. What do you do with South Street Brewery? Who's going to open a restaurant? Who's going to open a brewery? And just getting it to a white box scenario is tens of thousands of dollars, at least. Yeah. At least the owner of South Street Brewery, Taylor Smack, owns the Blue Mountain Brewery brand. You know the things that he didn't say in the closing post is this.

It's much easier to do business at Nelson County. It's much easier to do business at a barrel house. It's much easier to do business on 151. Yeah. The things he didn't say that we are going to say, it is arduous, difficult, painstakingly challenging to do business in this city. But it is not at my barrel house. What is that, in Arrington, or my primary flagship brewery on 151.

That's what he didn't say. He's going to take the Satan's pony and blew it at Blue Mountain Brewery. He's going to basically what's happening with South Street and it's sad. It's been in business for 28 years. It's basically going to close on the 6th of April. It's going to be unfortunately akin to roadkill on the side of the road and folks are going to pick the best parts of the roadkill, the vultures. A little South Street brewery here. Or a little Satan's Pony is going to go to Blue Mountain.

Maybe the, what was the, I can't believe I'm drawing a blank. They had a really good hoppy beer. I'm going to untap my untapped, the barhopper. A little Satan's Pony here. A little bar hopper over there. A little Anastasia's Chocolate Fantasy over here. Oh, yeah. Right?

A little soft serve over there. A little twisted gourd or hop grove over here. Maybe the hop gothic or the 365 shandy over here. Maybe the cheese curds goes to Blue Mountain. The wonton nachos go to Blue Mountain. Maybe you cherry pick some of the beer equipment to Blue Mountain. And then you're left with a carcass. Right.

That's what's going to happen. And then you're going to have to find somebody who wants to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into a carcass into a city that is not doing anything economic development wise proved me wrong Barbara Becker-Tilly says

it had no outdoor space though yeah that is true I understand it had no outdoor space and Barbara Becker-Tilly I love your comments but I think we're all in agreement that the seating was spacious

The Alfresco dining when they opened up that window was awesome. They had a big-ass bar. They had TVs for sports everywhere. The Buffalo Billsbackers, that was their home. Anytime Buffalo played a football game, you're talking what? 16, 17 regular season games a year plus the playoffs. It was standing room only. Speaking of sports, UVA plays at noon on Thursday.

We're going to talk about this matchup on the Jerry and Jerry show tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. Jerry rackliff.com. Let's highlight our partners at Jerry rackliff.com. Jerry Rackcliffe is a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. He has pivoted his business model to a paywall subscriber website, and he's had tremendous success so far. The best content that's UVA sports related is on Jerry rackliff.com. It's an $8 a month subscription. $8 a month.

$8 a month and you get content that literally you can't find anywhere else if you're a UVA sports fan. That is 25 cents a day for the best UVA sports content possible. Jerry Rackliff, jerryrackliff.com. I'll close with this. Viewers and listeners and my DMs are open. My DMs are open. Give me three economic development. strategies, outcomes, events, impacts, anything economic development-wise tied to City Hall from March of 2020 until

today. You're talking a six-year period of time. What has Charlottesville City Hall done from an economic development standpoint? Give me one, Judah. One. So far, the top front-runner. is not destroying the revenue sharing agreement that's been in place for generations without Marl County

that's kicking Charlestville 9% of its budget. $21 million. Thank you, Carrie Greta. That's the talk show. Judah Wick Cowan and Jerry Miller, the I Love C-Vill Show.