The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Houseless Man Sleeping In Draft Taproom Entry; Who's Responsible: Draft Owner Or CVille City?

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Houseless Man Sleeping In Draft Taproom Entry Who’s Responsible: Draft Owner Or CVille City? Owner/Chef Christian Kelly + Plans For Duner’s Price Of Land In CVille City Continues To Escalate Some Of Our Top Happy Hours Around CVille Another Bomb Threat: Planet Fitness In 5th St Sta. Meals On Wheels Getting Permanent Exec. Dir. UVA Hoops Has 0 Transfer Portal Commitments 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 and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Monday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. It's great to connect with you through the I Love Seville network. Today's show presented by Dino and his team over at Pro Renata, where they have two locations. The Dino's Woodfire Pizza, which you know, and now a Move Thru, second location for Move Thru, as he expands what he's doing in food and beverage. Dino known, of course, through his fantastic personality. I saw him on Saturday where he greeted me with a bear hug, talked with my boys as we ordered a pepperoni pizza,

and then walked over to Star Hill to enjoyed it in Dairy Market and I'm so excited for Dino's success as he goes from Dairy Market to Crozet and now has five points of sale for his restaurant empire he's got three at Dairy Market, the Wood Fired Pizza, the Basta Pasta, and the Moo Through. He's expanded the Moo Through operation to a second location at Pro Renata Brewery in Crozet. He's also added a second Dino's at Pro Renata in Crozet. So support the good guys in the business, and Dino and his team, certainly some of the best in Central Virginia, hard workers that do it right. Thank you, Dino, for just making this community a better place. I sincerely mean that. He's gone

from two employees to over 40 employees since the start of COVID. So that is the American dream for one of the hardest workers in the game. A lot we're going to cover on today's show. I want to highlight a story that I personally experienced today. I was walking the downtown mall in the game. A lot we're going to cover on today's show. I want to highlight a story that I personally experienced today. I was walking the downtown mall in the 9 a.m. hour when the air was crisp. The mall was relatively empty. It's a Monday morning, so not all the businesses are open. I was coming from the post office where we have a P.O. box, and I was heading from the post office down to the code side, the omni side of the mall, enjoying myself on a brisk walk on a 65, 70 degree morning with zero humidity. As I'm passing Draft Tap Room, a location that's been closed since the beginning of COVID, I look to the right, expecting to see the houseless individual

who sleeps in the entryway to draft taproom. This gentleman has been aggressive with passerbys in the past. He is often talking to himself, and he has all of his personal belongings pretty much next to a bed, which consists of a sleeping bag and some blankets and clothes and a sack that he utilizes as a pillow. As I'm walking by draft tap room, I look to the right on the floor expecting to see this man, and he was not there. Then I did a double take, and I was surprised not to see him there because for the last month he's been there 24-7, 365, or at least since I passed by or when Judah passes by. Second time after looking, I continue my walk down the mall, excuse me, and he sees me doing a double take on his sleeping quarters, and he gets close to my face, and he says,

what are you looking at? Are you the police? What are you doing staring at my bed at my home? I said, I wasn't staring. I was walking by on the downtown mall. This is a public park. I'm walking on the mall. He goes, no, you stared at my bed,

mind your own business, and then he said again, are you police? I said, no, sir, you stared at my bed, mind your own business. And then he said again, are you police? I said, no, sir, I'm not the police. And I will continue walking. And then he looked at me again. He said, don't ever do that again. And proceeded to cuss me out. Genuinely cuss me out.

There were folks eating at the Nook breakfast. They saw the interaction they were taken aback by screaming of profanities in the 9 a.m. hour in the downtown mall you could tell it impacted their dining experience it was either the Nook or botanic they were eating at you could tell it impacted their dining experience it certainly impacted me although I just kind of shrugged it off. And as I was walking away, he said, that's right. Don't turn around.

Don't look back. F-U-M-F-er. At the top of his lungs as I'm walking down the mall. And this led me to ask myself this question as I continued my walk to the code building, to the Omni, and then turned back to our studio on Market Street, if you want to get the Market Street camera in. We're on Market Street, a block from the Charlottesville Police

Department, a block, you know, 50 yards from the Charlottesville Police Department, excuse me, a block from the courthouses, one block off the downtown mall, and smack dab in the middle of everything, Charlottesville, Alamo County, and Central Virginia, less than two miles from the University of Virginia, Scott Stadium, and the John Paul Jones Arena. There's the Market Street Cam there. I asked myself this question, who's responsible for this?

Does the responsibility lie on the fact that D tap rooms been closed for four straight years? Almost four. No, four years. COVID happened in March of 2020. It is now April. It's almost May of 2024. It's been four years since draft has been closed. Hard to believe.

It's hard. Flown by, right? Yeah. Well, flown by and also been excruciatingly painfully slow. Yeah. Is it the owner of Draft that's responsible? Now, Draft has changed hands since it initially closed during COVID. Is it the city of Charlottesville's responsibility?

I mean, we know the cops can't do anything. Is it the archaic laws associated with panhandling in a form of free speech and the fact that this is a Dillon Rule state and the city of Charlottesville really can't do anything about it? It would have to come from Richmond, Richmond passing a law that's then passed along to the localities that allows them to aggressively enforce panhandling. Is it the fault of piss-poor homelessness support and infrastructure around Charlottesville that creates a congregation or aggregation of houseless folks on the most important eight blocks of the city? I think that's probably part of it.

I'm in with Judah. It's not the police's fault. I'm not even going to put them on the list. Chief Kotch has come on the show and said our hands are completely tied. Yeah. So I ask this question to you, the viewer and listener, and it's going to be the topic for today's program. The start of the show, if you want to put the lower thirds,

the first two on screen. A houseless individual is commandeered the entryway to a business that's been closed or shuttered since the beginning of COVID. This man has gotten

to the point of comfortability, so comfortable, that if you walk by him and you get too close to the entryway of draft, he is screaming at you four-letter words and profanities and threatening you with speech. He is impacting quality of life of not only those walking by, but those eating at the botanical nook establishments who have their outside patios literally across from the entry to draft. And I want to unpack who is responsible for this chain of events on today's show. Two shot with you, Judah. You've had personal experiences with him. Yeah. I've had multiple personal experiences with him.

The one today was menacing, like menacing. The extent of my personal experiences with him was me walking by the entry to draft tap room and he was like muttering and talking to himself this particular time i did not notice that he was he was not sleeping there he had left i never see him outside the entryway because his personal belongings are there and he has to protect this stuff there's another gentleman who sleeps in the entryway right right uh next to the post office yeah and this gentleman is extremely respectful, very kind. I believe he's a military veteran. He is constantly inside the post office because it's climate controlled. It has air condition.

There's outlets where he can plug in his phone. He is far from a menace. He's a very easygoing and nice guy, the man who sleeps at the post office. Every time I'm at the post office, I say hello to him. I say hello to him as well. He always says hello back. Often says, hello, sir. It's good to see you.

Yeah. He's a sweet guy. Sweet guy. They both have similarities in that the entryways they're sleeping at, their entire life, all their belongings are there. So they do not leave the entryways because they fear that their personal belongings could get stolen or something could happen to them. This particular morning, the one that was sleeping at draft tap room,

he was not there, which caused me to do a double. In fact, it could have been a tripleton. Like, where is he? What's going on? The second and third time, I stared. It wasn't a quick glance. I stared because I was trying to analyze the bed set up I said, where is he going? That's when he was walking down the mall. And at that point was at the Nook or Botanical as I'm closely looking at where he's at. And that's when he said, what's your problem? No, what the F is your problem? Are you police? What are you looking at?

Get out of here. And then I got, I was taken aback because I was called off guard. Yeah. I said, no, I'm not police. I was just looking, I'm walking on the mall and I was just looking. He'd say, and then he said, get the F out of here. Leave me alone. Leave my stuff alone. Stop looking over here. And I said, this is a public park. I called it a public park, which it is, by definition. I'm walking. This is a public park. And they said, F you. Are you the police again? And that impacted me. And I have the question for you. Who is at fault for this scenario? Who is responsible may be a better word you have a business that's been shuttered for four years

to the point of neglect graffiti on the windows graffiti on the walls individuals sleeping in the doorway the promise of opening city of Charlottesville, do they have responsibility? Is the infrastructure for the houseless so poorly positioned or strategically laid out that we're

encouraging this? I don't think there is much. We've had, I believe, with the closing of Pacham, not closing, but they provide housing for a brief period of time during the colder months. In fact, my church was one of the churches that helped out with Pacham. And we had the Pacham men for, I think, a couple weeks. And I went and helped one of the days that they were there. And helped with food, helped with some other things. And so Potchum isn't really a it's certainly not a long-term solution and

it's dependent on churches being able and willing to take people in with the hope that there aren't any issues. So I don't think there's really much in the way of housing available for people aside from a little bit during the colder months. So we just chalked this up to it is what it is and we can do nothing about it? That's basically Kevin Higgins watching the program. Let's get Kevin's photo on screen. I Love Seville viewer and listener power rankings you can find online,

iloveseville.com forward slash viewer rankings. You're basically saying, and Kevin Higgins, his comment I'm going to get to, he's number 10 in the family. He highlights the fact that we have a military veteran living at the post office on the downtown mall. It's time for a gut check, viewers. Nothing else matters today. What a disgrace. He served our country. The guy living at the post office is not a menace.

He's kind. He sticks to himself. He is down on his luck, clearly. And he is not impacting the quality of life in the city in any way. Definitely not. Not negatively impacting the quality of life in the city in any way. Definitely not. Not negatively impacting the quality of life. In fact, I would say I look forward to coming to see him in the post office. If I was rich, I'd buy the guy a house.

He seems like he's just... Doubt on his luck. Yeah. The guy that's sleeping in draft taproom is the antithesis. It's the opposite. He's a menace. He cusses people out. He is aggressive.

He is screaming at patrons of restaurants. He's cussing out passerbys. He is so comfortable where he's at that he believes that he can call the shots on this privately owned piece of real estate that is on a public park that is within a public park and i guess you're saying you know it is what it is this is the environment we're in i mean we know the police can't do anything. If he attacks someone, then they could probably take him in. But depending on what charges somebody wanted to press against him, I don't think they would really matter. I'll take it a step further. If Draft Tap Room was open, it's owned by Stefan Freeman, if it was open, this man would not be sleeping there.

Probably not. I think we could say definitely not. Because you could enter the restaurant, the tap room, if he was sleeping there. Somebody would move him. You would literally have to step on him or over him to get inside the drive tap room.

But, Mr. Freeman, who owns drive tap room. But. Mr. Freeman who owns the tap room. And he was not the owner when it closed. When it closed in the beginning of COVID. He was not the owner. He purchased it for pennies on the dollar. Mr. Freeman is paying rent. For as far as we know.

As far as we know he is. As far as we know, as far as we know he is, as far as we know, honoring the terms of his lease for as far as we know. He does not own the building. There's Brian Holuska right there. We're going to owe Brian Holuska some jumping jacks. It's going to be tough to get him on studio camera as he walks by. That's not him. What?

I switched to the courtyard cam, but it was too late. Another interesting turn of events happened in the 9 a.m. hour today. This one, far from antagonistic, but from a social voyeur standpoint, I love watching human behavior. I watched as a school of first or second graders, as a class of first or second graders, with their teacher and their teacher's aide, it must have been 15 or 20 kids, were walking down the downtown mall and looking at the art that's hanging in the windows. There's a lot of art done by other students that's gracing the storefront windows of downtown mall businesses. I love the concept of having kids' art hanging in the storefronts of downtown mall businesses. The kids can see the art and say, I drew that, mommy and daddy.

And the mommies and daddies or the mommies and mommies and the daddies and daddies will bring their child artists to the mall and have them look at it. This particular morning, it was a class that was doing a tour of art that was hanging in the window. And this particular class, one teacher, one aide, and maybe 20 kids were navigating the 9 a.m. hour.

Maybe they felt the 9 a.m. hour was the best time because it was less traffic, but that is also the time I have seen where the panhandling population is also pretty prevalent, often waking up from an evening of sleeping. And the aide and the teacher were having to navigate 20 kids around the mall, cautiously, I don't want to say sidestepping, but the teacher and the aide creating buffer for those, for elements they perceived to be risky, I don't want to say risky, but uncertain. Yeah. Uncertain. Where the teacher and the aide were putting their bodies kind of in between the student line.

Look, kids were holding hands in a line. And the teacher and aide were there on the other side. Almost like back in the day, chivalry, I hope, has not died. But a chivalrous gentleman walking along the sidewalk with his girlfriend or wife, the girlfriend or wife on the inside of the sidewalk, the chivalrous gentleman on the outside of the sidewalk next to traffic. So if there were a traffic incident or a splash of mud or something like that, it would go on the guy instead of the gal, right?

Same thing with the teacher aid and the teacher in downtown Charlottesville I was watching. They had two, there was two houseless individuals who were not panhandling. They were just hanging out by the old Vita Nova location. Not where they're at now in Impeccable Pig, but the old one next to the CRHA building. Actually, that is the CRHA building.

The Charlottesville Redevelopment Housing Authority bought the building next to Silverchair. There were two guys hanging out in those storefront ways. They were kind. They were just talking to the kids as they were walking by. They circled around the mall and got to the draft tap room guy. And you could tell that the antennas or the spidey sense enhanced, got to a different level of concern with the teacher and the teacher aide. So much so that the teacher and the teacher aide started directing the line of 20 kids that were touring the mall to look at paintings on the windows, maybe it was some of the art that these kids had done, and took them away from Draft Taproom, beelined them on the other side of the patio seating for Botanical and the Nook, so they would not encounter this gentleman.

So on a 10-minute span of events, on one day, I saw him berate me with four-letter words and cause a class of first or second graders to completely sidestep entire entire storefront of a strip of storefronts on downtown Charlottesville and go on the other side of the ball yeah When does that become problematic? Menace. Quality of life impact. Something needs to be done. It's a good question, but I don't think there's anything that can be done. I mean, we've heard it enough

times that there's just nothing that we can do as Charlottesville. It's a... I mean... What was the... The last thing that Charlottesville did was remove benches, right?

I mean, you can't remove a storefront. You could maybe put up something in the space. If you could move him and his stuff, I suppose somebody could put something in the space like what they've got below the windows. The old Wells Fargo Bank on the downtown mall. They have a spike strip. Have you seen them?

I've seen them. They're bigger and more, I don't know. They made the spike strip more aggressive. Yeah. It used to be little nubs. Yeah. For those that don't know what Jude and I are talking about, the Wells Fargo that's on the downtown mall,

it's on the same side of the mall as Body and Reed, the old Brasserie Cezanne. It's next to – Directly across from Fitzroy and 10. There you go. That's a great landmark. And right next to the big fountain. Right. There you go.

Directly across from Fitzroy and 10. There's that Wells Fargo building. It's a multi-story building with offices up there. The bank's on the bottom level. They've kept – The bank is closed now. The bank is closed now. That's right. That bank is closed. It was Wells Fargo, right? I believe so. They put in their storefronts, and the storefronts offer the protection to inclement weather, and their storefronts or their windows, they have a strip on the ground of spikes. It looks like something you would put in a fireplace.

It's raised up, fully metal, and certainly unappealing to somebody wanting to lie down in one of those spaces. You could not lie down there. You would be lying on top of spikes. Yeah. I have another colleague, I'm not going to say who, that is a multi-unit owner of, I don't think I've ever even mentioned this to you. He owns a property around the area.

And are you familiar with the mosquito? What is it? Let me get ‑‑ it's called the mosquito. It is an alarm. It's a machine used to do loitering. It emits a sound at high frequency. And it's a device that was let me see if I can find it online. Here it is. It's a box that you can attach to a building. And it's nicknamed the Mosquito for the buzzing sound it plays. It was initially patented and invented by Howard Stapleton in 2005.

He originally tested it in Barrie, South Wales, overseas, where it was successful in reducing teenagers loitering next to his grocery store. This man created the idea after his 17-year-old daughter went to his grocery store to buy milk and was harassed by a group of 12 to 15-year-olds. This machine creates such a high-pitched noise out of a box that you hang on the wall. You can buy this online. That anyone that's in close proximity to the box is driven hang on the wall, you can buy this online, that anyone that's in close proximity to the box is driven crazy by the noise. And some property owners are utilizing the mosquito as a way to deter loitering or other stuff by em admitting this noise.

And they're doing it because multiple phone calls to local government have yielded no results. Right. Probably for the same reasons that they don't hear. Bill McChesney watching the program. Let's get some photos on screen. Mr. McChesney is what, 15 in the family, I believe? I'm starting to remember their rankings.

Number 15, he says the outside walk was also because of things dumped out of the windows to the street below. Yeah. The likelihood that was dumped would fall closer to the street and outside of the sidewalk. Yeah. Guys walking the outside of the sidewalk. Maria Marshall Barnes highlights that two high schools had their proms on Saturday in downtown Charlottesville. And Maria Marshall Barnes highlights that two high schools had their proms on Saturday in downtown Charlottesville. And Maria Marshall Barnes, her photo on screen, please, sir, she comments often. She's 22. We appreciate her perspective. She said, I was uneasy and made sure to tell my kid to walk in groups and to be careful while going to the prom.

One of those proms was at the Jefferson. I believe Monticello High School had their prom at the Jefferson. Absolutely unbelievable. Having a prom at the Jefferson, I mean, what a venue for a prom. One of those proms was at the Jefferson. I believe Monticello High School had their prom at the Jefferson. Absolutely unbelievable. Having a prom at the Jefferson, I mean, what a venue for a prom. No doubt. I can't imagine what it was like. I've heard on Sunday about some

friends of ours whose daughter had her prom over the weekend as well. I don't know if it was there at the Jefferson or somewhere else. One thing, we'll get off topic, we'll change the topic and we'll go to Christian Kelly and Dooners here in a matter of moments. It's one thing to have in Ginny Hoo and Deep Throat, we're coming to you next. It's one thing to have the gentleman that sleeps at the post office or any of the other spots around the downtown mall there's the gentleman who sleeps at the

office is kind and considerate and polite and mannered and is pretty much hanging out inside the post office from the time it opens to when it closes. And doesn't appear to need psychiatric help. I would say he needs no psychiatric help. Yeah, I mean, we're not professionals, so I don't know about providing a... Psychoanalysis. Yeah.

That's fair. But I look forward to seeing him. He stays out of the way. He minds his own business. Yeah. You're down on your luck. A hand up instead of a handout. I get it.

Give you a handout. The guy that's by draft is so brazen now. He is cussing people out that are walking in front of draft taproom. Because they're too close to his home. That is a menace. That is a menace. That is a menace. And we're in a society today where the police are telling us they can do nothing. Because panhandling, and this isn't even panhandling.

I don't know if we want them to do anything. It's a form of freedom of speech. You say you don't want them to do anything. I mean, do we really want the police going around arresting people for being homeless? If you see any antagonistic and aggressive with people, that's different. And they can arrest someone if they're getting violent. But are the police supposed to hang out on the mall and wait for one of these people to do something that becomes arrest worthy I don't think that's a good use of our police force's

time either. I honestly don't know what can be done it would be nice if this guy could get some mental help it would also be nice if there were a full-time place for people to spend the night in Charlottesville. Of course, that also is dependent on a lot of things. The places that provide overnight facilities have rules. You can't be doing drugs in those facilities.

There are some people that probably wouldn't even go to them. It's an issue that's going to take more than just being able to arrest them or finding a place for them to spend the night. I think we've covered them very well on the show, not just today but in past shows. Two other comments I want to get to. Ginny Hu, she says, I wonder if the veteran at the post office would accept help from CODA vets.

It's a great question. The second tweet, she says, while I can handle that kind of behavior, why should I have to? And I definitely do not want my kids around it. I handled the behavior. I handled it well. I would not want my kids nor my wife around it. Nor would my wife be willing to be around it. She would not be willing to be around it she would not be willing to be around

it right and this is someone who spent a decade plus on the upper east side of manhattan this is from deep throat his photo on screen number one of the family the problem may not be for citizens on the mall eventually it may be a problem for the homeless person when i lived in brooklyn deep throat said there was a disturbed homeless person who acted out on the avenue closest to where I lived. People tried to get the authorities to do something for him. One day he jumped out and screamed at a guy walking by who turned and knocked the guy out cold. People will take it into their own hands at some point. Leaving these guys to pass by ultimately is not going to help them. That's going to happen to this guy.

That's very true. That's going to happen to this guy in the draft entryway. Quite possibly, he's going to yell at the wrong person. He's going to yell at the wrong person. And it's escalated, the behavior. It's not yelling anymore. It's getting up, chest pumped, in your face, like close to nose to nose.

This comment comes in. The mall's a park. How is it different from relocating those in the park next to the library? That's a great question for Sam Sanders. If they utilize Market Street Park as a public park, you cannot have Sandersville in Market Street Park. We're going to relocate you. The police came. They said that on their tents.

But that was based on the fact that the parks have a curfew. And it was also based on the fact that Sam Sanders lifted the curfew at Market Street Park. That's why they could stay there. That's why they could stay. It was just like in... So does that mean we're at the point of needing a curfew downtown? I mean, how can you do that? How can you do it at Market Street Park?

Because they're different places. Because you're saying there's not businesses in the park, Market Street Park. There's businesses on the mall. And having a curfew like 2 a.m. would hurt the businesses that still have employees that are closing down the bars. Possibly, yeah. Even if you made it 3 a.m., some bars probably have employees that are still doing back-of-the-house, front-of-the-house closing work at that time. I mean, last call at the bars on a Friday or Saturday night is probably like 1.50, 1.55. Yeah, I mean, I'm not worried about the police arresting people, workers from restaurants leaving late.

I worry about the workers at the restaurants leaving late? No. I get the point you're making. I'm saying the police aren't going to come onto the downtown mall and arrest anybody that's on the mall after a certain time. That's one of the restaurant workers that are leaving late after last call at the bars on the mall was one of the main arguments utilized for keeping 4th Street and 2nd Street open, the cut-through roads on the downtown mall. The late, great Wilson Ritchie highlighted this to me many times in person over a cold beverage. He said 2nd and 4th Street are not just cut-throughs

for us to get produce and food and the stuff we use to run our restaurants, our silverware, our linens, and stuff like that. But 2nd Street and 4th Street are often where folks are getting picked up by Ubers and Lyfts and taxis as opposed to having to wait off the mall when it's not as lit or foot trafficked. 2nd and 4th Street offer visibility

for the folks that are trying to... A little more safety. Safety. All right, we've got some other things we've got to cover. You guys take a look at what I'm talking about when you have a chance. If you're walking downtown. All right. Let's talk Christian Kelly. Christian Kelly is the front of the program. Christian Kelly is the new owner of Dooner's Restaurant. Speaking of the late, great Wilson Ritchie, we know Wilson has passed away, and he is missed deeply he had an ownership stake in a number of restaurants and real estate

and was in the process of making some changes to Dooners exactly Christian Kelly, friend of the program see this man once a week his wife maybe once a week his son Will a man once a week. His wife maybe once a week. His son, Will, a few times a week. Amazing family. Salt

of the earth. Just a fantastic family. Love seeing Christian and his son, his wife, Jen, all the time. Jen's father, a fantastic guy. One of the best, now retired, but one of the great attorneys in Charlottesville at one time,

a partner at Mickey Hamlin, maybe even a founding partner, don't hold me to that, but one of the most prominent law firms here. Christian, after Wilson passed, was asked by Wilson's brother to take over Dooners. And now Christian is the owner of Dooners. He and his wife. He and his wife. Family owned. Family owned restaurant.

He was the chef at the time when Wilson passed. Wilson is a talented operator and he knows the ownership game as well. He was the co-owner and the founder of Maya Restaurant. That's where I first met Christian Kelly. Christian and his co-founder and co-owner of Maya Restaurant, a friend of the program, Peter Castiglione. I've known Peter since we played racquetball on the regular at ACAC downtown. Peter, a hell of an athlete believe peter played college baseball for a short stint a lot of people don't realize that peter cassidy cassidio is a fantastic athlete christian kelly at one time i used to joke with him

that if you took any chef in charlottesville or almer County, and you put him in a weight room under a bench press, that Christian Kelly could do more reps than anyone. Dude was jacked, square-jawed, jacked, all-around great guy, good-looking guy, chef, co-owner of a restaurant, rock star. I mean, rock star. And Maya, to Maya's point, they own the real estate that that restaurant's located in. Not just owning the restaurant, but they own the real estate itself.

One of the first restaurant groups or restaurant owners in Charlottesville that I knew that also had that foresight of owning the real estate itself. You then saw Wilson start to do that. But Christian and Peter were first. Christian and Peter part ways at Maya. Christian goes to Kempton Hotels where he helps launch those restaurant properties. If you have yet to check out the Kempton Hotels, my wife and I checked it out a couple of weeks ago. We went to the, what's the name of the sports bar? The Good Sport? The Good Sport, yeah. We went to the Good Sport for happy hour. It was fantastic. The venue is beautiful.

He helped open that location. He helped open the fine dining spot. And then he was riding his bicycle with a buddy while he was winding down his tenure at the Good Sport. And his buddy on a bike, as they were pedaling on Ivy Road on 250, his buddy said, the chef's job is open at Dooner's. I remember talking about this with Christian.

Literally, we had this conversation as well. And soon thereafter, he applied. Wilson Ritchie gave him the job right away. Of course you would give this guy the job. Ritchie Kelly is one of the best chefs in the market. Literally one of the best chefs in the market. Literally one of the best chefs in the market. His sous chef is Paul Myers, a guy who played football at Monticello High School. Paul Myers was a wide receiver.

I hope this gets back to Paul, the sous chef. A wide receiver, the Monticello Mustangs under Brodbick now, had great hands. Very quick. Now making a name for himself in kitchens in this area. Now sous chef for Dooners. But he's making some fantastic changes at Dooners, Judah, and carrying on some of the momentum that Wilson put into place. Yeah, yeah.

Wilson had started to expand the floor plan, I guess you'd call it. Set up an outdoor seating area. Christian Kelly is wisely going to continue with that. And they've got, like you said, sous chef Paul Myers, who I think has some exciting plans in store for Dooners. And they've also got general manager who's becoming a sommelier and is going to implement a uh a wine program for dooners so sounds like a lot of exciting things in store it's and and dooners has withstood the test of time at one time dooners restaurant could have been laura fauner's some bad luck prevented laura fauner from taking over as owner of dooners

now chef fauner is the uh uh executive chef at common house she was on she was the heir apparent of dooners and then covid hit and that changed everything yeah and then she ran into the i don't have to go down this road the hunter smith bus saw and is now i mean a chef of her caliber at a private club is tough because folks don't get a feel for what chef fonder can do with food not like they should. Unless they're members. But you look at Duder's, and I've talked about this, the quarter or the area of Charlottesville that I think

has most upside for food and beverage businesses is that Crozet to data science quarter. Ivy Road. Look at what you have from like, where is it? 240, 250, that split there right before

Crozet. Right at where Ivy Roadhouse used to be. Right where the Mexican restaurant that has a very good beer tap list. I forget what it's called now, but it was Ivy Roadhouse at one time. The 240, 250 split. From there to the data science school.

You have Vivace. You have Moe's Barbecue owned by a friend of the program, Derek Bond. Yeah, I was there just last week. You got Ivy Provisions. You got Birdwood. You got Selvage Brewery. My wife and our boys were there yesterday. That place is excellent. You have Dooners. You used to have the Pizza Joint. The joint that's now closed. The Phil Delaney property is at Toxbury.

The Pizza Joint that's in that Ramshackle building that's now closed down. But my point is this. You have a boatload of wealthy rooftops and a boatload of housing density and you do not have many dining options. And I am so excited for Dooners' potential

because A, it's already withstood the test of time. So it's got a rabid following. B, it's in an area of Alamaro County that does not have much restaurant competition. You can maybe make an argument that it's a restaurant desert. C, it's getting new life huffed into it by Christian and his wife, who are fantastic people.

I think you're going to see a restaurant that's going to take a leap or two on the ladder, a run or two on the ladder upward and be even better. Yeah. They're having noise dampening. Yeah, tiles put into the roofs. That's going to help.

A lot of folks have made, it's loud in there, let's cut to the chase. It's loud because it's a converted house and you're close to everybody. Have you been there? Not in a very long time. Go.

Bring the fam. Or any kind of outing. I think you would enjoy it. The outside deck is brilliant. I think my sister will be here for my birthday. Maybe she'd be willing to go. There it is. Your birthday is July? Yep. Second?

Sixth. Sixth. That was close. My birthday is? Your birthday is, I have no idea. I'm horrible with birthdays. Okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. No problem. Anyway, I think it's going to crush it. McChesney says this. The panhandler ordinance that was struck down through the efforts of a local justice warrior, they ended up canceling the ordinance because of a local justice warrior. That's Jeffrey Fogle he's referencing.

I responded to his comment by tagging Jeffrey Fogle. An attorney, Esquire Jeffrey Fogle, you are welcome on this talk show anytime you want. Happy to host you, Jeff Fogle. An attorney, Esquire Jeffrey Fogle. You are welcome on this talk show anytime you want. Happy to host you, Jeff Fogle. We differ on pretty much everything viewpoint-wise, but I think we can have a conversation in a respectful fashion.

John Blair, off-topic. A sartorial question. John Blair's photo on screen. This is about your attire. Iforial question John Blair's photo on screen this is about your attire if we can get John's photo on screen I ask myself this question all the time we got John's picture number 2 on the family on there now let's go do we have a one shot for you Judah

you don't need a one shot he wants to know you are always well dressed. He's given you props. He says you're always very well dressed. Thank you. He says, how are you able to wear a sweater today? I'll take the sweater off before I go outside.

It's 72 degrees in here. Can that studio camera go to the thermometer, the thermostat? No, there's no way. It's on the other side of that column. Can you go to the studio camera? Talk to me about the studio camera. Okay the thermometer? The thermostat? No, there's no way. It's on the other side of that column. Are you on the studio camera? That's the market street camera. Are we on the studio camera? I'm going to move

the studio camera. The studio camera is legitimately moving. Try not to unplug it. Hold on. Hold on. Let's see if I pull it over myself. Pull it over. So we get more slack. All right. Pull it over yourself. There you go. Oh, it actually worked. All right. Hold on the thermostat. This says 72 degrees. 72 degrees in here. Can they hear me?

Yeah, they can hear you. Holly Foster chastised me, the Queen of Henrico, for keeping the thermostat at 68 degrees. She said that's entirely too chilly for an office setting, Jerry. 68 degrees. It says 72. Can you come take a look so you can confirm?

Judah's going to confirm. You have the limbo under this though. No, I don't. Judah's taking a look here at the studio thermostat. What's it say? It says 72. 72. You see what I wear. There's a good picture of the bar right there. We do have a full bar in the studio. 72, Judah.

John also says this. Another notebook item I heard over the weekend that Charlottesville High School's head football coach has left to go back to Brookville High School. I did not know that. Thank you for sharing this. Any commentary on the sweater, Judah? Yeah. We owe 10 jumping jacks for Brian Haleska. Did he just walk by again? What's that? Did he just walk by a second time? No, he only walked by once. Oh. I spent the first 12 years of my life in Southern California. I knew you were going to say that.

I've got... I know you so well. I've got no... I've got very little... What's the word? Blubber? Chub? Fat? What do you call the stuff that you spray around the inside of a house insulation insulation i have very little insulation and i have very sensitive skin so even though it's 72 and it's not cold and it's not really cold in here i'm not i'm wearing a short sleeve shirt i i'm sweating i haven't complained i i don't mind the temperature here. I would prefer it was 68. But when the AC is blowing on any hot day, I feel cold. It's not because the temperature is cold. I'm not picking on Judah Ginny-Hoo.

I'm not picking on him. Ginny-Hoo said when she was in the studio, she thought it was cold. That was when it was 68. It was also winter when you came in the studio, she thought it was cold. That was when it was 68. It was also winter when you came in on the show. It's a little bit nicer, when the air conditioning is blowing, I've got sensitive skin,

and I feel chilly, so I wear a sweater. Totally cold. I'd rather wear a sweater here and be able to take it off when I'm feeling comfortable and not need it when I go outside. We kid because we care. Not giving you a hard time. Sincerely, man. All right. A couple of more items out of the notebook here. What's the next headline? I don't have the headlines in front of me, so you go two-shot and read the headline on screen. Viewers and listeners, hit the like button. Philip Dow, watching the program we love you philip dow youtube jump in the mix with some comments if you could youtube

we love when youtube gets in with some comments the next headline is on screen now the price of land in seville continues to escalate oh philip dow watching the program we're going to get to that this is a reddit thread that we're going to get to in a matter of moments. Philip Dow says the normal temperature should be 68 degrees. I want it to be 68, not 72. I'm sweating. Holly Foster is watching the program. I love Holly Foster. She says, get Philip and Holly's photos on screen. Holly says, some of us are cold natured, Jerry. You are just hot natured. I totally am hot natured.

Yeah, definitely. In more ways than one. I'm talking temperature. I'm talking temperament. Yeah. That's what I meant. Mi madre es cubana. The Cubans are fiery people.

All right. You want to go to the Reddit thread? Yeah. I mean, this is... This is right up Deep Throat's alley here. These are... These are prices. They haven't sold for this price yet.

We have a couple of properties. These are asking prices. Yeah. These are asking prices. Yeah, these are asking prices. One of these is, what's the address? Porter Avenue in Charlottesville. That's in Fry's Spring. It was, let me see if I can find the property details. What was, I believe it was last sold for $169,000.

And it is now up for $475,000. All right, so set the stage here. The who, what, when, where, why. The who is people trying to sell property. Asking for top dollar. The where is the address. Give us the where. The address for that one was Porter Avenue in Charlottesville. There's another one on 1418 Hampton Street in Charlottesville.

So give us the address, the first one, the price escalation. The first one was... And what's the exact address so they could find it on their own? I don't know if there's an exact address. It was just purchased in February of 2024. This is land. This is land only. For $165,000.

So February of this year, the land was purchased for $165,000. And I don't know if that was recorded as... What are they asking you? You're getting in the weeds. It's $475,000. Okay, let's keep it simple. Kiss method.

The second one, address. 1418 Hampton Street. What did it previously sell for? Let me find that. Then what they're asking for now. Got to keep it simple. I'm not seeing the prior sale price. So here's the nitty gritty.

Reddit has their arms in the air, the Redditors. And they're screaming, holy bejeebus, land, insanity. And we read this thread. We like to scour Reddit for topics on the show. And we reflect on what we've covered on previous shows. You got the address for it. One more time on the address. This is 1418 Hampton Road.

Hampton Street. And looking at the price history, September 16th, 2022, pending sale $230,000. January 11th, 2023, listed for sale $210,000. Penning sale just at the end of that month in January of 23, $210,000. And 4-10-24 price change, $500,000. Do you have any fault with the people asking for top dollar for what they are? Price change, $500,000. Do you have any fault with the people asking for top dollar for what they own? Do you have any beef?

Not really. There's no guarantee they're going to get those prices. Exactly. It's an asking number. They're asking for something. Someone's got to pay. Right? Somebody's got to want to pay that much for them. Exactly.

Got no beef, right? Not really. It's just the way it goes, right? More or less. Follow-up question for you. If someone's not willing to pay that number, what's going to happen? More than likely, they'll bring the price down. Price is going to get cut.

And what's that called? The market. Oh, that's called the market. That's the market. Yeah. The market does what the market's going to do. Here's where we should highlight or shine the flashlight. The land became more valuable.

Yeah. And the land became more valuable because you can do more things with it and when you can do more things with the land like put more units on it you're going to be able to sell it for more money who said that was going to happen? you did years ago

I think when they first started talking about changing the zoning you said that this was going to cause prices to go up. Exactly. Because what am I? A prognosticator? On many things. But a businessman. And if you take land and you make it more opportunistic, it's going to have more value.

And people are going to ask more for it. What have we seen that upzoning has done? Anything positive for stabilizing prices in this market. Anything at all. Now, it's very early on. But we've seen no stabilization. No impacts of upzoning. And if these properties start selling even near these prices, what's going to happen? We're not going to get affordable apartments or multi-unit houses or anything of that sort. And why is that? Because whoever's developing the land has to make the money back. And who said that was going to happen? I believe you did.

Okay. So when it comes down to it, folks that make policy decisions should listen to people that are in the profession. And it wasn't just me that said stuff like this. John Blair, very loud

with his vocalization as well. Deep Throat, very loud with his vocalization as well. Expect more of this. Next headline, my friend. Next headline is some of the top happy hours around Seville. I want to highlight, I get this question all the time.

Where should I go for happy hour? Where should I go for happy hour? What's the best happy hour in town? There are many opportunities to enjoy cheap drinks in this town. You got Minute Man Mondays at 3 Notched. The word is getting out about Vision Barbecue having very cheap drinks

The old Shabine location Everyone knows about Millers having cheap drinks Holly's Diner has cheap drinks Knife Brothers next to the porn shop Canipe? Yep Canopy? I think it's Knife Okay Kniep Brothers next to the porn shop. Kniep? Yep. Canopy?

I think it's Kniep. Okay. Do you think it's Canopy? No, I don't think it's Canopy. I think it's Kniep. Have you ever been there? Not in its current incarnation. You went there when it was at Big Jim's?

I think so, yeah. I think my dad and I came back from something, maybe a fishing trip, and stopped there before... You should check out K'Night Brothers. Clean as a whistle. Right next to the porn shop. Yeah. South Street's got beer specials.

And they make their own beer? Make their own beer. Salvage's got specials on Thursdays. Star Hill has specials on Fridays. I know it's expensive out there, but there's still an opportunity to get a good drink for a good price. Yeah. You just went to Moe's.

Moe's has got a fantastic happy hour. I don't think I've ever made it. I don't get out in time for happy hours. There's some happy hours on the weekends. If you take the photo, I love the photo that you took for I Love Seville on Moe's. Thank you for taking that and posting it. The burger looked good. Could we do the photo from the side next time?

Like the side pic? What do you mean? Like with the burger in your hand and you're taking a profile of the burger instead of shooting just downward on it? Because I think it would be a better indication of what's inside the burger. As opposed to just getting the top of the bun.

Yeah. But this looked dynamite. Yeah, I wanted to get the other stuff too. In the picture. Did you get some collard greens? Yeah. And then what do you have? I know this isn't an IPA because you're not an IPA guy.

Is that a sour? No, they don't have sours. They've got four beers on tap, I think. But they also have a beer cooler full of beer. I didn't see anything on what cans they have. So what's this? That's a shock That's Shock Top. Shock Top, okay. A little half of Ison?

Yeah. I didn't know you were a half of Ison fan. Okay. Anyway. I mean, of the choices they had, that's what I went with. Okay. I want to highlight for the viewers and listeners, and I rattled off a few, there's still many happy hour options where you can get a good drink at a fair price.

The $8 draft beer is not the norm all the time. It may be the norm out of happy hours. It's the norm most of the time. Yeah. But happy hour, you can still get a $4 beer, a $3 beer. Still an option. All right. Next headline, my friend.

And we have 10 jumping jacks for Brian Huluska. I have not seen any other local luminaries going by. Next one you got. Oh, let's see. Yet another bomb threat at Planet Fitness. I didn't really even want to talk about this one. Yeah, it's just, I mean, I hope they figure out who's doing these and and put them away soon another bomb threat at planet fitness this is the second one in a short period of time

yeah this one didn't interrupt the entire shopping center like the last one did yeah because they probably i mean you know they had an idea they have to do there are certain things they have to do when they get a bomb threat but i mean this is just obviously if there's no bomb they're not actually they're not actually causing anyone any yes they are well they're they're hurting the business utilizing resources to go yeah police a phony threat I know, but I mean, there's no actual threat to bodily harm

to people. But yeah, it is taking up valuable police resources. Thank you. It is doing damage to the company who is you know, this is the second time. I mean, how long how many of these do, would it take before people started going somewhere else?

Yeah. We've covered this well the first time. This time I was hesitant to give it any attention. This is tied to issues outside the market that are spreading into our market, which is BS. Last topic. Is it the transfer portal? I mean, we've got a small one with the Meals on Wheels getting a permanent executive director. All right, give us two paragraphs on that.

Meals on Wheels does a good job. It does. My next door neighbor does deliveries for them. He's an elderly gentleman. The Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville and Albemarle

have had an interim executive director, Haley Peterson, and she is staying on and becoming the permanent executive director. So that's a good thing. They have solid leadership, and they'll continue to do the great work that they've done consistently for years. What's up? Love meals on wheels on this program. That position does change over, though.

But I would imagine a non-profit executive director position, not all of them are paying great. Sorry, the pollen's killing me. Last comment, last topic for today's show, that's some jumping jacks with jumping jack Judah Wickhauer. And we'll talk about this tomorrow on the Jerry and Jerry show. UVA basketball has

zero transfer portal commitments. Zero. We're now heading into May. This is getting to be a point of concern. I'm going to talk about this with Hootie on the Jerry and Jerry show at 10.15 tomorrow. They have one starter returning.

Yes, Blake Buchanan started some games. Yes, Isaac McNeely may come into the starting lineup. Tane Murray. Yes, Tane Murray may come into the starting lineup. But outside of Isaac McNeely, they have no

real starters returning. This is getting to the point of red flag status in Charles Fulton, John Paul Jones Arena. I'm going to talk about that with Hootie tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. You want to go to the studio camera? Why don't we do the should we do it on the Market Street camera? No, let's go studio camera. Let me know when you're on studio camera. These are 10 jumping jacks for local luminary Brian Haluska, who was caught in our Market Street camera.

We have wicked clothes in the Market Street. All right. You did a great job. Thank you. This guy over here. Are you doing good form? I think I've been doing them backwards. Do you have these mics on? No.

Maybe we can do that as a change next time. That's alright, we'll do that next time. How do you do jumping jacks backwards? I think I've been going legs out, arms down, legs in, arms up. I don't know. It's been so long.

Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Okay.

Liza's wondering what's going on. Yeah, Liza the dog's freaking out. That's the money edition of the show. You did a bang-up job. Thank you. I think a new change we can make on the jumping jackhammer is make mics three and four hot. Can't do the one closest to you.

So you do three. Yeah. We'll make mic three hot. That'll pick up our audio. And then we can close on the one closest to you. So you do three. We'll make mic three hot, that'll pick up our audio, and then we can close on the Market Street cam. We could even conceivably do the jumping jacks on Market Street in the courtyard. There'd be a lot of running.

Running out, running back in. Go to the Market Street cam. Thank you for joining us on the I Love CMO Show. So long, everybody. Thank you. We're trying to frame the market street camera a little bit here. Shift it a little to the left. Let's see, which one of these is it? Two or one? That way, just tight on the window.

No, the other way. Yeah. A little more. A little more. I can't go anymore. Can't go more than that? All right. I'm going to go to the other side.

I'm going to go to the other side. A little more. I can't go any more. Can't go more than that? Alright, that's good. I can zoom out. No, no, no, that's good. Or zoom in. Yeah, can you zoom in more?

A little more? A little more? That's the shot. Right there. Nice and tight. All right, cool. Thank you.