The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Highlights/Lowlights: CVille City Council Meeting; Jen Fleisher: "Magical Money" & "Pretend Housing"

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Highlights/Lowlights: CVille City Council Meeting 5/4/26 Jen Fleisher: “Magical Money” & “Pretend Housing” “$4 Million In Magical $$ Given To Staff Not Housing” M. Payne: “Someone Is Going To Die At Rivanna River” Rivanna Encampment Is Massive Fire Risk For CVille Luxury Student Apartments Approved For Fifeville 7-Story Building, 180-Unit, 770-Beds, $2K Per Bed Subscribe To JerryRatcliffe.com For Only $8 Per Month 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.

on LinkedIn. You're doing God's work, Judah. Welcome to the I Love Seville Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us a Tuesday afternoon in downtown Charlestful. A pleasure to connect with you guys through the I Love Seaville Network. Ladies and gentlemen, grab your kids, grab your wife, grab your husband, because Charlisville City Council is running loose in this 10.2 square mile city.

We're going to play highlights and low lights from last night's Charlestville City Council meeting including the 4 o'clock session, which was kind of a state of the union on homelessness in Charlestville, Virginia. It is absolutely abundantly clear from last night's, from yesterday afternoon's 4 o'clock session that Charlestville is in a world of hurt and a world of trouble with the current leadership and what it has planned or strategize to solve homelessness and alleviate the tax burden associated with homelessness for residents. There is no plan.

The Blue Ridge Area Coalition and the homeless literally said to counsel, we are waiting for you to give us some kind of direction. Jen Fleischer, we're going to play a sizzle reel from her, the rookie Charlottesville City counselor. We're going to pay a highlight reel from Michael Payne, the season two-term Charlottesville City counselor. In fact, multiple sizzle reels from Jen Fleischer, who throughout yesterday's meeting looked like she was confused,

did not know Robert's rules at one point late in the meeting admitted that she was spaced out and not in tune with the conversation. Jen Fleischer yesterday was talking about quote, and you will hear this ladies and gentlemen, magical money.

A magical, if magical $4 or $5 million magically appears and pretend housing, can we solve homelessness? Exact words from Jen Fleischer. Michael Payne offers a one-unit-impassioned, I call it a monologue, was it a diatribe, what a stream of consciousness? I mean, what did Michael Payne do there? I'm going to play that one minute and 30-second monologue from Michael Payne, and then we're going to offer some, a highlight reel from the fire chief, who's basically telling counsel that the Rivana River encampment is a

massive fire hazard during a drought. The homeless at this encampment are using propane heaters inside tents next to blankets and sleeping bags. The homeless encampment at the Rivana River are burning trash and burning plastic to cook their food that it is a fire risk of the most significant proportion for any neighborhood, any office, any piece of real estate, any woods, any grass. We are in a drought, the Rivana River encampment is as dangerous as it gets from a fire hazard standpoint, the police chief told counsel yesterday. Good God, I need you to grab your iced tea, your lunch. After watching this, you're probably going to need a martini or a bourbon. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to talk about Fifeville, a neighborhood that is historically marginalized, historically

African-American. Three-two vote yesterday. Counselor Snook, Councillor Wade and Councillor Osherin voted yes. counselors Fleischer and Payne voted no. The Mark, the apartment tower for students, has been approved for Fifeville. This is directly behind the church that is on West Main Street. Is this off 7th Street, Judah? You have a map that you can show for the viewers and listeners without messing up? Actually, don't mess with that computer. We'll just put up the rendering and we'll kind of weave people through it.

We told you all along. I've been telling you for years, if you approved this. new zoning ordinance. I've been telling you for years, the out of town and out of market and international and national developers. We're going to be targeting your historically marginalized communities, you're historically black and brown communities, you're historically impoverished communities for their student housing luxury apartment towers. That's exactly what's played out. Livable Charlottesville, Stephen Johnson, and Matthew Gilliken. They pushed this new zoning ordinance through. Matthew Gilliken, Stephen Johnson, and livable Charlottesville. And they said, if we push this

zoning ordinance through the additional supply will create price stability and it will be good for the financially marginalized and historically marginalized community members in Charlottesville. They have proven to be absolutely dead wrong. Cannot be more wrong. The student housing is literally gentrifying and replacing the historically marginalized and the historically forgotten community members. And I'm going to show you an exact rendering of what's happening. Grab your kids, grab your husband, grab your wife, grab anything and anything and everything, ladies and gentlemen, for the I Love Seville show today.

There's a lot we're going to cover on the program. I want to highlight Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, fantastic partner of the show, 62 years in business for the Vermillion men. We're going to see them on Thursday, 62 consecutive years of proudly serving this community, John and Andrew Vermilion in Charlottesville Sanitary Supply and Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company. anything swimming pool related, including above ground pool construction, in ground pool construction, water testing, pool robots for cleaning your pool, pool shades or pool covers.

Ladies and gentlemen, at Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company, and anything cleaning supplies related, ladies and gentlemen, it's a clear cut answer. It's Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. Like the show. Please hammer the like button right now. Vanessa Parkhill, we appreciate you. Philip Dow, we appreciate you.

Print radio and television is watching the program. Handsome Hank Martin is watching the program. Like and share the show. Thank you for the retweet. Ginny Who, we appreciate you. Judah Wickhauer's studio camera, then a two-shot as we weave you in. Viewers and listeners, you may not only need bourbon to watch today's show because what I'm about to show you is going to infuriate you or it's going to be so hysterically sad that you can only help but laugh. They may need bourbon and a life preserver after watching this.

Do you want to offer some commentary before we go into the highlights and low lights from yesterday's city council meeting? Let's see. Highlights and low lights. Well, they are doing the best with the limited, limited information they have. Sadly, they haven't come up with any solutions. Ginny Who, watching the program, if I use local government, an excuse for day drinking, I'd be cracking a beer by 10 a.m. every day. There's got to be some kind of drinking game we can create here with city council meetings. What would the drinking game

be with city council meetings? Anytime Jen Fleischer says magical money or pretend housing, anytime Michael Payne goes on a monologue of impassioned, nonsensical commentary, that? Anytime Juan Diego Wade, what? Offer some word salad. We all have to take a shot. That you have to, you have to prick up your ears to actually hear. This is absolutely bananas. Highlights and low lights from the city council meeting yesterday.

There were two sessions. The first session online attracted 57 viewers. The Isle of Seville show gets significantly more and it's not even close. I'm talking like thousands, thousands and thousands for the I Love Sevo show every day. And Charlottesville City Council meeting yesterday got 57 views. We are 570-Xing the city council meeting from yesterday and viewership. 570X the viewers. I'm going to play highlight clip number one from Rookie Counselor.

Jen Fleischer. This would be the last clip we cut. This is from the 4 o'clock session. The state of homelessness locally. The homeless population is increasing and it's increasing rapidly locally. Here is Jen Fleischer who has a mental health

background. She's worked in mental health. This is about 90 seconds of watching Jen Fleischer. I'm going to put my earbuds in so I could watch and listen to this again. 90 seconds of you guys watching and listening to the rookie Charlottesville City counselor on screen yesterday.

Judah, you have that clip ready to go? Yep. Let's play that clip in three, two, one. The building itself. But you all did this for Premier Circle. I mean, right, like this, everybody came together and did this on the fly during COVID for Premier Circle. Okay, so you've done it before.

And it was very successful. I can say because I've helped vaccinate everybody at Premier Circle. I can say that. First-hand experience. Okay, so is there anyone left from Premier Circle Time who's still here who could help do that? Or is the collaboration even better now that that, I'm trying to figure out how we identify who's best aligned to, we don't have a choice is what I'm saying to you. We have to do this.

So let's just talk about like it's happening. When we do this, how do we get to the answer of like we will take on the project management, we will play the assessment and data collection part, we'll pay the engagement part, we'll play the moving like we did with Premier Circle part, how quickly can we assemble that crew and how do we determine how to answer the, what questions are we not asking that we need to ask? Community solutions and clutch consulting are at the ready for us whenever we say we're ready to make this move forward.

They're happy to jump in and help us with those planning calls. I think the big piece is the funding and the vacancy rate was very low in Charlottesville. So those two pieces, I think if we can address that, they're ready to move as soon as we are. Okay, so let me take it from the top, just so I make sure. We engage community. There's Jen Fleischer talking about we have to do this. We have to solve the homelessness issue right now. They are realizing that the holiday drive solution is years away.

And yesterday they found out from the fire chief that the fire hazard that is the Rivana River encampment is significant. Furthermore, someone died at that encampment in November, according to police chief Kachis. The calls for service are escalating at the Rivana River encampment. And Chief Kachis has indicated that it's very difficult for his police officers to get to the encampment on those calls for service. The entry point, the exit point, how they find the trouble or the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. The. the reason for the calls for service. Jen Fleischer, we're going to play a second clip there. She talks about Premier Circle, which is a housing development in Almaro County, where three housing nonprofits collaborated to bring roughly 140 units to the community of housing.

This is the scenario the counselors have in. It's finally dawned on them that this Pandora's box that they open with Holiday Drive, 2000 Holiday Drive, is a much bigger problem than, is a much bigger task then they are ready to answer.

The nonprofits, the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless Patcham and the Haven, literally told City Council yesterday, we're waiting for you for guidance. City Council told the nonprofits, it's up to you to lead the charge. So here the nonprofits are telling counsel, we need guidance from you, and counsel is now telling the nonprofits, it's up to you to lead the charge. Most concerning in yesterday's meeting was a lot of the money is allocated to staff, and not housing. They're saying once we get this money,

it's going to need to go to people to staff and pay them before we can even consider housing. There's going to be a second Jen Fleischer clip that we're going to play for you that's about four minutes long talking about magical money and pretend housing. Do you have that clip ready to go, Judah Wickhauer? This is rookie counselor Jen Fleischer talking about magical money and pretend housing

in four or five million dollars if they had it, where it would go. Judah Wickhauer, play that step in that clip in three, two, one. Having very high price tags, so we put a pause on that for now. So if four million dollars magically appeared and did not interrupt the flow of other fundraising that's going on, there's

still not a there isn't, no one's positioned right now to raise their hand and say we can do the, an interim housing solution, which I would consider using maybe Holiday Drive, as Councilor Oshman was saying, I'm making stuff up right now. And something else, you mentioned hotels,

whatever that is, towards a more permanent housing solution or at least a more transitive housing solution kind of through this cycle of steps. But am I right in saying that this coalition is not, does not have a leader that's ready to take that on right now? If we magically got $4 million today, that would go towards staffing, new staffing, to support this project.

So I would tentatively say yes, but I also feel like I'm probably really optimistic in the COC for taking on new projects, but that price point does include new staffing positions to manage this project. And clutch consulting also has their own consultants that would be here with us during the housing spread. Okay, so that money could...

Oh, yeah. Sorry, Cameron. Go. No, I'm sorry. I would also want to add to your very salient point. There is, it's not in terms of someone not being willing to step up. There's a thought. There's two schools of thought. If there's a direct housing initiative, then we have to think about what is the rate of housing or, you know, what's available. And we just talked about how there's not enough available. If there is a building that is bought that is then switched or made, like someone bought a hotel, that would make this process easier

but if there is a direct to housing initiative again one of the reasons that Bratzport pauses is that we don't know if there's that much affordable housing or we know that there's not that much affordable housing at play. So the methodology in which whether it is temporary housing or affordable housing

that variation and that variable has to be thought about. So you wouldn't go for the interim, so the interim housing can't be done in a vacuum it has to have tethered to it the direct-to-housing piece that comes after that tenure in the interim housing. And that... No. No. No. Tell me more.

I was saying that in terms of if we are focusing on the encampment as they are as is right now, let's say clutch and community solutions comes in and there's a direct-to-housing initiative, then the question would be where are people going to be placed? We already know there's not enough housing. If we take the problem when we look at it right now and we say, oh, this money, you know, falls out of the sky. There's a building that's retrofitted, not holiday drive, but let's say there's a hotel or a motel that's bought.

And basically premier circle, for those who remember that, is kind of run back. That is a feasible option. And it would make it easier for the COC to be able to make a transition to do that as opposed to doing a community solutions or clutch piece, trying to get people in an already stressed housing market. Oh, so the community solutions, I did not see that yet, so I would love for you to send that to that.

required not in-term housing. It went straight to direct-time. I got it. Okay. Sorry. I missed that part. Okay. Sorry to butt in. So I'm understanding. So even if there were $3 to $4 million, most of that would just have to go to building the staff capacity to do something

year-round all year. And then so that still doesn't include both finding a hotel or motel, purchasing it, retrofitting it, and then beyond even just the money needed, there would be, as you mentioned, like a very difficult project management situation of figuring out how to develop

it, it's still going to need rules and regulations. There would not be just, you know, I mean, there would be limits and expectations of what's allowed, not allowed on site. So just, I'm trying to write around the scale of how, to me, that just sounds realistically like that's several

years away. The four million would be for staffing and for subsidies for the folks enrolled in the program, but you're correct, that does not count towards the building itself. But you all did this for Premier Circle. I mean, right? Like this, everybody came together and did this on the fly during COVID for Premier.

Okay. That's the second clip that we're going to play from yesterday's City Council meeting, okay? That's an inner action between Jen Fleischer, the head of the Blue Ridge Area Coalition of the homeless, and Michael Payne. If they get magical money, a $4 to $5 million, that magical money is going to go, to paying people. To do something. I'm not sure what they would do without a building to do it in. It's not going to go to

actual housing for the homeless. Sadly. And they're talking about a stopgap situation for the homeless. Before Holiday Drive, the 27,000 square foot office building comes online 24 to 36 months from now at the earliest.

Two to three years from now at the earliest, there's a homeless shelter that they're trying to figure out what to do. Yesterday they figured out, they said on the record, the non-profits, the three of them, Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, Patcham and the Haven, we are waiting from instructions from you City Council, which City Council then responded, we want you to take the lead, and then they left it at that. They spent $6.2 million of taxpayer money in Q4 of last year on this office purchase. At the earliest, they're talking 24 to 36 months before this comes online,

at the absolute earliest, and they still don't have enough money to bring it online. And they're basically going to ask Al Morrow County for $10 million to help them to bring it online. And they're going to say the homeless population is nomadic and transient. It's also part of Almaro County, not just Charlottesville and this homeless shelter. We decided to build it right on the Charlottesville City and Almar County line. So this is going to be your problem to pay up for it taxpayers, along with the $22 million $1,000, Almar County is giving Charlestville for the revenue sharing agreement. As a stopgap scenario, they're looking for housing.

An interim solution between now and whenever holiday drive comes online. That stopgap situation involved magical $4 to $5 million of money, according to Jen Fleischer and pretend housing. The response from the Blue Ridge Area Coalition from the homeless's executive director said if we got magical money and pretend housing, the first thing we would do with that magical money is pay ourselves. Brilliant. First thing we would do is pay ourselves.

A new wrinkle is turned up with this Rivana River encampment. We are in a significant drought. And as a result of this significant drought, the fire chief is begging city council to figure out a solution because the likelihood for fire at the Rivana River encampment is significant. This is the first sizzle reel, Judah. And then we'll close with Michael Payne's monologue, Okay. Here you will hear, here you will see the fire chief talking about propane heaters that are being used inside tents next to blankets and sleeping bags.

Here you will hear the fire chief talking about the Rivana River encampment residents burning trash and burning plastic to cook their food. Here you will talk about, here the fire chief talking about the likelihood of fire at this encampment because drought conditions. are so significant. This is a fire professional telling city council that the risk for fire is massively, massively tangible and palpable. Fire chiefs, sizzle reel. This is about three minutes long. Judah Wickhauer, three, two, one. I know this is like kind of a difficult question to answer, but I've been out there myself just kind of on my own. And if anybody has not been there in recent weeks. I strongly encourage you to. There's a lot of propane tank distribution, and that's understandable for both heating and food cooking as a necessity. But, I mean, I observe

a lot of unsafe use around open flames. We're in currently a drought. It's not just a thing to say. I mean, there's a house and outmodal that burnt down from a propane tank last year, and that's combined with a lot of things. Given the location that we're in a drought, I mean, What is the level of fire risk you're observing? Fire risk is very high. We go down there and try and educate the residents explain to them that having a propane heater inside the tent, that they have now insulated with blankets or tarps

to limit the amount of air exchange that's happening in that tent. It's a carbon dioxide problem. But there's no code against it in a tent. It's not a building. I don't have fire code. against having a heater in a tent. It is creating an unsafe situation. And so we've talked to them about that.

We've worked with some of them to educate them in having it be, you know, open the tent up more to allow more air exchange and talk to them. Like you're saying, I've been down there at least twice a week since before the encampment myself. I walk the area even off duty and just for exercise and I try and walk that area and say hi to now people that I know they recognize me whether I'm in uniform or not and try and educate them

and try and work with them. I will say, you know, the campfires we've eliminated, we've just gone and said, hey, you can't do this during this drought, you can't have a campfire. Some of the propane tanks, that they're using for cooking.

It's no different than, you know, anyone else. I mean, I cook with my gas grill on my deck. Right. And so we've tried to educate them, you know, don't have it right in the grass, have it in a way as safe as possible, and, you know, utilize things that they're meant to be propane cooking on. You know, there's a couple down there that have taken

what I would call like backyard propane. making fire pits and converted it into a cooking appliance. And that's not what it's intended for. And so we've tried to help them understand the risks of that. We still see

a lot of, they're not using wood to cook with. They're burning plastic. And it's just putting carcinogens in their food. And trying to help and understand that burning trash and cooking on it is an increased

risk. I want to highlight this. The fire chief is telling city council that the risk for wild, the risk for encampment fire

is very high. At a time, the community is currently in drought conditions. The encampment is under a bridge a critically important bridge that tens of thousands of vehicles use every day to get in and out of Charlottesville?

Not the whole encampment. The encampment is next to a bridge. Can I say that accurately? I think so. Okay. I need to put this in incredibly succinct terms. I think one of the elements that the viewers and listeners appreciate

with my delivery of my communication style, my delivery is sickness, okay? That's just me talking. Sometimes. There's hundreds of people that are sleeping next to the Rivana River on the Rivana Trail next to the woods. They are using propane heaters inside tents, closed tents next to sleeping bags and blankets. They are burning trash and burning plastic to cook their food, let's put aside the health hazards of using plastic to cook your food. Burnt plastic, fired plastic and trash. We'll put that to aside.

Propane heaters and tents. Trash to cook food next to a bridge where tens of thousands of cars every day used to get in and out of Charlottesville. Charlottesville City Council, if there was a fire and damage to free bridge in any capacity, do you understand the liability first, the accidental liability you have on your hands? I want to document the trail that someone is saying this in front of thousands of people. The I Love Seville Show on May 5, 2026. if a fire damage free bridge in any capacity, the risk, the legal exposure to Charlottesville is significant, ladies and gentlemen.

Secondly, do you understand the financial cost associated with fire damage on the free bridge? How much money would have to be spent if damage from fire impacts free bridge or tens of thousands of vehicles used every day to get in and out of Charlottesville? The fire chief is doing exactly what he's supposed to do. He is a professional, a pros pro. He's telling counsel, you have a fire hazard here. We're going to close with one more clip. This last clip is from Michael Payne. It is a clip of one minute and 36-second variety.

Here, Michael Payne is going to be offering, how would you characterize what Michael Payne does here? some kind of monologue, some kind of impassioned monologue of the Rivana River encampment. I'm calling this clip, someone is going to die. Because Michael Payne literally uses this phrase in this clip. Someone is going to die. Here is two-term counselor Michael Payne from yesterday's city council meeting. Three, two, one.

And I truly don't say this to try to be sensationalist. I say that's grounded. And these are human beings whose lives. matter. Is it accurate that not at zero side or another encampment there is an individual who died in November? I believe it was November 24th, I believe.

You know, I'll just say, I mean, I know there's a big structural issue that we have to address with Holiday Drive, permanent supportive housing, and I walk there and my heart really does break and I'm terrified

because what is happening is not any minimum level of care. It is not meeting any level of structure that is going to help these folks. As was mentioned, this is in a direct floodway, maybe the area most vulnerable to flash flooding in Charlottesville. We are in a drought with these fire risks. I am terrified because at one of these locations, I don't know what happened. Somebody else has already passed away and someone's going to die out there. This is, I can't believe where we're at and this cannot be. And I say that with not wanting to, you know, criminalize anything, arrest anyone, but caring about these people as human beings, it just feels like we've abandoned folks. And I'm, my heartbreak, because as we

approach front season in this drought continuing, I'm deeply concerned about these folks. This cannot be sustainable or compassion to these folks. And I'll just, I'll just end there. Someone is going to die out there. Michael Payne's words, I can't believe where we're at. Michael Payne, we are at this scenario because of you in city council. Yeah. I can't believe we're in this situation. I can't believe we're in this situation where there's 300 people living in the Rivana River under a bridge during drowned conditions and susceptible to creating a fire that could burn a bridge, all the businesses that's close to it, and people's homes.

I can't believe where we're at. This is council made this bad. Right? Yeah. What am I missing here, Judah? They started, I would need time to think about how to actually craft this into something that makes sense, because they essentially started at the very end and then went back from there and realized that they need a lot of stuff they hadn't thought about to get to their endpoint. They try to solve a problem from the finish line instead of the starting point. Yeah. Now they're talking about buying and retrofitting a hotel.

That's what you said they should have done in the first place. 100%. But even so, do they really think they can buy and retrofit a hotel in less time that it takes them to... Bring holiday drive to market. Retrofit holiday drive. Which they already own and I've identified. Yeah. Do you understand how asked backwards this is, ladies and gentlemen?

yesterday city council jen fleischer she's a rookie maybe we give her some grace because she's been on the job for three and a half months i'll give you a little bit of grace jen flisher please never again jen flisher use the terms magical money please never again jen flisher use the terms pretend housing and please never again jen flisher be caught nodding off and dazing off and being in a in a dream while you're alive presiding over a council meeting in hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer allocation as you did in the evening session where you're like, oh, I'm sorry, I spaced out, I'm actually here. What did you guys say? What did we just say?

Please never again do that, Jen Fleischer. It was humiliating. I watched it from start to finish. I was one of 57 people that watched the council meeting yesterday. 57, I was one. Never do that again, Jen Fleischer. I'm going to give you a little bit of grace because you're three and a half months into the job, Jen Fleischer. Michael Payne is in his second term, and he is literally saying someone is going to die.

How did we get to this point? We got to this point, Michael Payne, because of you. You got to this point because we are allowing encampments on the Ravana. And how could anyone have possibly guessed they would light fires to cook food? Exactly. keep themselves warm or any of the other reasons why you light a fire when you have an encampment. We got to this point, Michael Payne, because you and your colleagues failed to outlaw camping in public places. We got to this point, Michael Payne, because you and your colleagues failed to outlaw the storage of possessions in public places.

You created this scenario. Michael Payne, you created this. and now city council is considering a band-aid for holiday drive because they realize holiday drive is going to be more than $20 million and is years, years, years away. So now they're talking about magical money and pretend housing and identifying hotels as band-aid solutions to retrofit for the housing so no one dies and so free bridge doesn't catch on fire.

I'm less worried about the bridge catching fire. I'm extremely worried about the bridge catching fire. You should be worried about everything around the bridge. Dude, if everything around the bridge catches fire, free bridge is going to get damage. They're going to have to shut down free bridge. Do you understand what Charlestville has gotten themselves into? You heard this here first, ladies and gentlemen.

If there's a fire at the Rivana River encampment, and the fire chief says the risk for fire is high, If there's a fire, we're in a drought at that encampment, it will hurt Freebridge. How are the people from Pantops, from Keswick, from Louisa, from the eastern side of Almore County, from Orange, that use Freebridge, come down Pantops Mountain to work at UVA, the health system, the epicenter of employment? How will they get into town? How do you get into town? I don't think the bridge is going to catch fire and burn into a slag heap, but I could be wrong. Now, more came from yesterday's city council meeting. Grab your popcorn. I told you to grab your popcorn.

This portion of the program, thanks to Stanley Martin Holmes. Stanley Martin Holmes is dedicated to building homes that cater to each person's unique needs and lifestyles, high-quality single-family homes, townhomes, and condominiums, design and constructed and innovative techniques, honest techniques, communicative ways, trustworthy ways. They meet deadlines. Did you know Stanley Martin Holmes has built more than 600 homes in our community in Central Virginia? Over the last 24 months, 600 homes from Stanley Martin Holmes. That is the most prolific builder and developer in Central Virginia period. I want to highlight what, or maybe it's the low light, what happened in the second session of Charlottesville City Council.

It's meeting from last night. In a very tight vote, a 3-2 vote. Lloyd-Snook, yes, Juan Diego Wade, yes, Natalie, Oshran, yes. Michael Payne, no. Jen Fleischer, no. They voted 3-2 to overturn the Board of Architectural

Review vote to do the exact opposite of the bar vote and to approve a student housing monstrosity in Fifeville, 7 stories, 180,000, units, 770 beds, rent at $2,000 per bed when it's finished. I'm going to put a rendering on screen. Do you have that ready to go? Look at the screen. Look at the screen. Viewers and listeners,

this is coming in Fifeville. This is directly behind the black church on West Main Street. This is directly behind the church on West Main Street. That's the red building on the left-hand side of the look at the screen. You will see obviously something that is completely out of place from a neighborhood character standpoint that has red marker around it.

To its left is an all red building that has a red roof on it. It's an all red building. That is the church on West Main Street. That is across the street from is it Al Barcos? I think Barco

Mariscos El Barco is further down. that's probably across from Maya? That's across from Maya restaurant? I think so. Right next to the head shop, higher learning? Smyrna. Smyrda? So you're literally looking at this monstrosity that is directly across the street from the church,

and that church is directly across the street from Judah thinks, and he's way better at directions than I am. Let me. I'm pulling out. From Maya restaurant or Smyrda? I think that's El Barcos. Marisco sells Barcos. Regardless, this was approved 3-2 yesterday.

770 beds. It's actually across from both of them. Mariscoe-Barco and Maya. They're right next to each other. 770 beds, 180 units, 7 stories. The Board of Art Textural Review said, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. Natalie Oshran offered the most compelling commentary

for the yes, to do this. Michael Payne offered the most compelling commentary for the no to do this. It is extremely clear that Michael Payne has very little influence on council. It's extremely clear that Natalie Oshran has

become the alpha dog on council. Extremely clear. Nakaya Walker calls it Austrian economics. She's monikered in, and I'm going to take that from Nakaya Walker. I'm taking it from you, Nakaya. I'm taking it from you. I'm taking it from you. I'm taking it from you, Nakaya Walker.

Are we going to call Osheronomics? Oceonomics, is what she calls it. Oshronomics. I'm taking it from you, Nakia Walker. Taking it from you. Natalie's Oshronomics is tied to additional supply, Judah. More supply. More supply means more tax revenue to do affordable housing. More supply means

more housing out there, which could stabilize prices. More supply. We're doing what's good for the financially marginalized community because we're creating more supply, more supply for taxes to do stuff, more supply, more supply. Orchern economics doesn't take an effect that this apartment building is taking over the places that people live that are financially marginalized. This is, I shouldn't be laughing. I should not be laughing. More shernomics, more supply, more tax revenue to do stuff. More supply. Stabilized prices.

Oceanomics does not consider that this is going to gentrify all of FIFIL. This is going to change FIFIL like Belmont was changed in 2010. I moved to Belmont in 2005. It was still blue-collar then, but it was changing quickly. By 2010, it had become white and yuppie and young professional. Fifell is without question next to change. And we are going to point to this apartment building is going to be called the mark. The developer is the same developer that built the standard on West Main Street.

The standard apartment tower is the home to where Potbelly Sandwich Shop is, which I think has since closed. Has it closed? Never seen it open. So the same developer that did the standard is building the mark. They're going to rent the rooms for $2,000 a month starting. We told everybody. And then I'm going to weave comments in from deep throat and from the viewers and listeners that are watching the program. We told everybody when Matthew Gillickett and Stephen Johnson in livable Charlottesville were pushing the new zoning ordinance forward, saying we need to relax the zoning locally so more housing stock could be built to help stabilize pricement.

We said if you do this, if you do this, if you do this, if you do this, if you do this, you are going to make Fifeville, Star Hill, 10th and page, the historically, black neighborhoods, the absolute targets of international and national developers. We told you this would happen. It's exactly happening like we called it on the I Love Seville show. Why is it happening, Judah? Very succinctly, why are the international and national developers targeting Fifeville, 10th and page, Star Hill for their development projects? West Haven. Why, Judah? Why? Because they want to develop in Charlottesville, so they're buying the cheapest land they can find. there it is. They're buying the cheapest land possible and they're assembling it. They're buying the cheapest land possible. They're buying the cheapest land possible. This will never. This was never. This would never.

This will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever happen in Belmont. This will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever happen in Greenbriar. This will never happen in rugby. This will never happen in North downtown. This will never happen in the Blue Ridge neighborhood. This will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever happen in the historically affluent neighborhoods that are homogenous and socioeconomic demographic. Ever, ever, ever, ever will never happen there. It will absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely happen in the socioeconomic neighborhoods that are facing headwinds and challenges and friction and difficulty. Because those neighborhoods have the parcels, the dirt, the housing, the homes that are most affordable, easiest to assemble closest to

epicenters of work, UVA. And their taxes going up make it harder to keep living there. There it is. This was effing obvious. This was like common sense 101, and everyone said this was going to happen. And now, Don Gatherers, who's

watches this program, Don Gathers, I read your social media content often. I have a lot of respect for you, sir. Don Gathers, are you watching the program right now? He is calling Don Gathers his photo on screen. one of the most significant activists in the community. He said this.

Thank you, Michael Payne and Jen Fleischer. The other three of you suck. You love living in the back pockets of developers. You care absolutely nothing about the neighborhoods or the citizens that live in them. You three specifically, snook, Wade, and Orchran are sad, pitiful, and pathetic. Don Gathers.

Why even bother to have codes or policies? Let's just give developers any and everything they want. Why even bother to ask citizens? to serve on boards and commissions when you disregard their work and ignore their suggestions. You all are sickening. It's like looking at the Trump cabinet. And finally, Don Gathers. Freaking incredible how counsel continues to bow down to developers.

Maybe it's time for the courts to look into some of these votes to see if there are possible kickbacks involved. Don Gathers about Snook, Wade, and Oshran. Deep Throat, number one in the family. Photo on screen for Deep Throat. Deep Throat says Don Gathers was in favor of the new zoning ordinance. Maybe he should work on his reading comprehension or memory. He's getting exactly what he campaigned and activated for. Exactly.

Deep Throat. Oh, now the people of Fifeville have the sad and angries about luxury student housing. Too bad they didn't listen. Everyone here knew how economics work. eat your cookie. This is the baking plate of dough that you put in the oven and as a result

this is the cookie you have on your plate. And he says, and to be fair, West Main is a dump. It's the best place to build ugly human ant farms. And I want you to think about this. The luxury student housing that's coming to West Main Street and then there's another apartment

tower that's going to shadow West Haven. That's the next thing. If this is a precedent and the Mark and Fifeville is a precedent for approving the apartment tower that they're trying to push another developer for West Haven that overshadows West Haven, if you think about it, having these luxury student housing towers on West Main Street is actually pretty smart because it's the gateway of connection between downtown Charlottesville and the university. So why not add thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of students with their

mommy and daddy's Porsches and their mommy and daddy's outies and their mommy and Daddy's Teslas and Volkswagen and Volvos, along with their mommy and daddy's Black American Express cards, put them there and have them bridge downtown in the UVA corner. Create the gateway, the West Main Streetscape, through student housing apartment towers. It's actually kind of genius. But the collateral damage is without question, the eradication and the disappearance of the Fifell neighborhood. Once these apartment towers are built in the Fifeville neighborhood, wait and

watch what it's going to do from a tax standpoint to the Fifeville neighborhood. Waited and watch what it's going to do from an amenity effect to the Fifeville neighborhood. Waited to watch what it's going to do from speculation to the Fifeville neighborhood. Way to watch what it's going to do with people selling their homes in the Fifell neighborhood because they can't afford them anymore. John Blair, number two in the family. John Blair, number two in the family. I went to go back to a line that you and I coined in January 2024 when the new zoning ordinance was enacted.

There may be more units, but single-family home prices will rise. We're seeing the prophecy manifest. You are seeing more rental units proposed, but they are not in single-family neighborhoods. The demand for single-family detached homes keeps rising without any additional supply being built. Meanwhile, expensive apartment units get built. More units, higher single-family detach prices. I think our prophecy will look better each year that the new zoning ordinance is in place. 100% John Blair. I'm responding to that comment. Fantastic comment. 100% on point.

And I'd love to point the finger at them because I think they're exasperating the rapid change of a community I love so dearly Charlottes. I love to point the finger at them. Livable Charlestville, if you Don Gathers want to be angry at somebody, or if you, Nakaya Walker want to be angry at somebody, or if you, the Fifeville-Fell neighbor, or if you, the Fifeville neighbor, want to be angry at somebody, you should be angry at livable Charlottesville and it's co-chairman. They ramrodded this through city council with bullying tactics. They pressured counsel to do this. And this is what we get as a result. No one wanted to listen to Deep Throat, John Blair, no one wanted to listen to me. I have hours of tape, thousands of written words published on I Love Seaville of what was going to happen if you push this new zoning

ordinance through. And I was monikered and stigmatized as nothing but a white landlord that is only looking after himself. That's how I was stigmatized. And I said, you're wrong. This is what I do for a living. This is what's going to happen. And they said, stop talking. You white man. You landlord. It's only looking after your 24 doors. And look at what happened. Hank Barton, handsome Hank Martin. This is a quintessential example of unintended consequences or put the old-fashioned way, be careful what you wish for. The new zoning ordinance shine is dulling rapidly in Charlottesville. Did it ever have a shine?

It had a shine when it was initially launched, and Rory Stolzenberg, the planning commissioner at the time, and Matthew Gilliken were doing their victory lap. How to shine then. Jerry Rackliff.com, $8 a month. I love Seville, $8 a month. Two fantastic content creators, Jerry Rackleff and the I Love Seville team. $8 a month, the price of a cup of coffee. 35 to 40 pieces of content that's UVA sports related on Jerry Rackleff.com.

Fantastic content. I Love Seville. I'm going to do 40 to 50 pieces of content, me and the team on I Love Seville per month. $8 a month, the best content possible, and it's not even close, viewers and listeners. Anything you want to add to Wicat, You just saw, you just got a cliff notes of making your bed and finding out later on in the evening that you've got to sleep in it. Conan Owen, there's a vacant lot next to the train tracks, build it, who's getting displaced by a vacant lot being put to use? Everyone likes to complain about national chains, fast food, apartment buildings.

If there was a better use for these spaces, don't you think someone in Seaville and the Seaville money class would have bought it, done something better? those upscale neighborhoods you mentioned don't have vacant lots. They do have vacant lots, Conan. They're just too expensive. And what's happening in Fifeville is they're buying lots that have homes on them. They're spending two million. You didn't watch the council meeting, Conan. They're spending $2 million to take two houses that are dilapidated and revitalizing them. These two houses that are on the front of the development, put the project back on screen, These two tiny houses that are on the front of the project, they said they're spending $800 a square foot or $2 million to revitalize and remodel these homes, to weave them into the development, all for the purpose of appeasing the neighborhood. The neighborhood tried to take the angle.

These two homes are going to be destroyed. These two homes are going to be destroyed. They're historical. They're historical. We can't allow this project to happen. They then responded to the developers, oh, we'll spend $2 million on these two homes to make them a part of the project. And I'll tell you, if you don't think folks are going to get displaced by 770 beds in Fifeville, wait till you see the trickle over tax exposure that's associated with the neighborhood that comes from this project.

Wait until you see what happens when you have 770 UVA students spending $2,000 a month. 770 times 2,000. $1,540,000 a month in rent times 12 months, 18,480,000 in rent rule. Wait till you see what happens when you have the developer behind the standard on West Main Street and the developer behind the mark, the same company, collecting somewhere in the neighborhood of $35 to $40 million a month in rent from $2,000. apartment towers in Charlottesville, two towers that are in spitting distance of each other, wait till you see the impact that's going to have on West Main Street, Fifeville, Star Hill,

and Tenth and Page. They will not be there. Those neighborhoods will not be there as we know it in a decade. Mark it down. On the tape, that's the talk show. Judea Wickhauer, Jerry Miller, the I Love Seville show. affiliated, unafraid, unabashed. That's why the show works. Tell your friends, tell your wife, tell your husband. We're back in the saddle tomorrow. So long, everybody.