The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Inflation Down, But Effects Remain In CVille; A Study On How CVillians Are Impacted Today

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Inflation Down, But Effects Remain In CVille A Study On How CVillians Are Impacted Today How Much Will Cost Of Living Uptick And Why? LA Times Lays Off 20%+ Of Newsroom 2,500+ Journalism Jobs Vanished In 2023 How To Improve City Of CVille Right Now Tacos Gomez Family Opens Brick & Mortar UVA Tops Wolfpack, NCAA Tourney Odds Improve 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.

Welcome to the I Love Seville Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us live in downtown Charlottesville in our studio on Market Street in the Macklin Building. Pleasure to connect with you through the I Love Seville Network. We're in the heartbeat of a 300,000-person market we call Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and Central Virginia. As I highlight, to start most of our programs, we are 150 yards away from the Charlottesville Police Department,

one block from the Albemarle County Courthouse, the Charlottesville Courthouse, one block from the downtown mall. smack dab in the middle of movers and shakers and decision makers, elected officials, financiers, judges, bankers, lawyers, heads of nonprofits, decision makers, if you may. And we love the energy of being here. Judah Wittkower is the director, the producer of the show. Judah Wittkower's inner circle family and someone I'm proud to call a co-host of the program. I sincerely mean that. If you watch this program in any capacity, you know Judah and I are, in a lot of circumstances, polar opposites.

And I think as we've figured out how to utilize that polar opposite nuance or feature that polar opposite nuance, it makes for pretty quality content every single week. Today's program is going to be yet another showcase of that nuance, the 180-degree differences between how I see things and how Judah sees things. It's me who oftentimes has to keep the commentary in check from a respect standpoint. Judah likes to highlight on the show that I'm the boss, the jefe. That may be true, but what I've tried to do on this program is democratize the content and democratize the speaking and the analytical commentary for the sake of you, the viewer and listener. I want to weave Judah into the mix and we'll start literally in the nitty gritty. I'm getting some off the record commentary and I'll follow up with it from folks inside the building that there seems to be a safety concern with violent and on the record to potentially relay this story to you soon.

So stay tuned on that. You, Judah, 67 degrees the thermostat says. We just had the diagnostic and tune-up on the HVAC unit today, thanks to Glenn and Clyde Smith, HVAC, and his colleague, Kenny, who were here at 8 a.m. this morning. Always professional, Clyde Smith, HVAC. That's who we utilize here in the Macklin building and outside the building at home in some of the rentals. 67, I find very pleasant. In fact, I'm starting to perspire right now. My sleeves are rolled up.

I have no undershirt on, and I think I'm probably going to unbutton the top button here. Judah, the odd couple here, Judah and I, what is the attire for today? Is there an undershirt under your button-down shirt? Yeah. Is it a long-sleeve undershirt? Yeah. Is it short-sleeve? It's long-sleeve. Oh, it's long-sleeve.

It's just like a Henley. He's wearing a Henley long-sleeve, a button-down shirt, a nice color blue, and a quarter-. Is that an Ann Wittkower original? No, this is an Old Navy original. Okay, Old Navy quarter zip sweater. So the man has three layers of clothing on, and it's legitimately, I saw them test the thermostat for the validity of the temperature reading, 67 degrees in here. Frankly speaking, I am hot. And I asked him before the show started, he said, it's a little cold in here.

I mean, I don't know how much is what I'm feeling from the door that doesn't... I don't think that's having an impact. Okay. To be frank. Maybe it doesn't. My point being that I get, I leave my, I leave the heat off at home when I'm not there. So I get home from, I get home from work and

oftentimes, you know, it'll be around 60. In your house. Yeah. And it feels warmer to me than it does in here. I will say this. The studio has 20-foot ceilings and heat rises. Yeah, but if, like you said, they check the thermostat, the thermostat shouldn't be reading the temperature of the air. You would think. You would think. We will also say, is there a camera we can turn to show? If you haven't seen the I Love Seville studio, it's probably 18 feet, 16, 17 feet of storefront glass with the I

Love Seville logo. I think about 10,000 cars drive by the I Love Seville studio each day on Market Street. One of the best branding mechanisms that we have ever done as a company in VMV brands, the brand behind us is a branding, is an advertising agency, is this storefront window here. You're showing it on screen? Yeah. I would say that's probably close to 18 feet of storefront, wouldn't you say?

That means probably the ceiling is over 20 feet tall. Are you getting them sick and dizzy with that camera view? I am now. Okay. Hello. How are you doing? So I asked this question to the viewer and listener before we get into the nitty gritty and the Kyle Miller show is today at 2 15 PM. He's got a fantastic show lined up for you. So we have to be mindful on time. What is an appropriate thermostat setting for an office? For me, I feel 67, 68 degrees is very appropriate. I think you would want it to climb as high as a 70 or 71, maybe a 72. Yeah, I think 71, 72. I think 68 is kind of like the bare minimum. Of course, the difference is one of us pays the bills and the other one does not.

Oh, that was a folly right there. Can we just get that officially tightened so it does not happen? It seems to be happening a few times, you know, once a week now. That's because it's a terrible design. Is this from yesterday's show purchased from Amazon, now outsourced to China? Do you want to get a new microphone? I'm not that. It's just a terrible design. If you look at the one that you took that I was using, look at the top.

Do you want to get a new one? I will pay for a new one if you would like. No, just get a welder. Get a welder? If you look at the top of yours. Do you want me to hire a welder to weld your microphone in, as opposed to just buying something that's new? Wouldn't the hiring of the welder cost more than buying the mic connection from Amazon?

I never said hire a welder. You said get a welder. Doesn't that mean hire somebody? Not necessarily. Who would do the welding then it's not like it's not so you're saying you would do the welding it's not rocket surgery

so you're saying you would do the welding I need one tiny little weld something to go on this that keeps it from dropping out from there just like that does. Can we order that on Amazon? I just did re-up on prime or we can just get a new one. The odd couple in full effect here. Seems like a waste of money, but if you want to waste money, that's fine. It's your money. What's the alternative, Judah? What's the alternative? You said get a welder. Aren't we paying for that regardless? Getting paint. Aren't we paying for it? How are

we going to fix that? Uh, we can either weld something on top. Okay. Can you weld something on top of that? If we had a welder? Yeah. What exactly is a welder? I mean, it's like a, it basically heats a piece of solder and connects two pieces of metal together. Where would we find that? Would we find that at Martin's Hardware? You'd have to ask Martin's Hardware. Would that not cost more than just buying this brand new one from scratch? I mean, you might not have to buy a full-on acetylene torch welder. I would need to do more research, but I believe there are probably some fairly frugal ways

to go about welding two pieces of metal together. Okay. Judah's going to be using his Bic lighter, a couple of sticks from the oak tree in front of the studio, maybe some string and some little roughage from the garden over here to weld the microphone to make sure that does not happen. Just like we start a fire when we were the Eagle Scouts. I never made it to Eagle Scout.

I got as far as Wee Blow. Ginny Hu's son is pretty, is he an Eagle Scout, Ginny Hu? What's it called? I saw your photo on your Facebook page. What did you call it? Wee Blow? I made it as far as Wee Blow, yeah. It's a badge. Wee Blow? Wee Blow, yeah. Did you not do Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts? No.

You did not do Cub Scouts of any capacity? Is that something we put on the never, Judah's never done on his life list? What am I, am I going to? Have you ever done the Pinewood Derby? No. You've never done the Pinewood Derby? No. Wow. Does everybody, did they have those things where everybody, all of our audience grew up? Yes. I mean, everywhere? It's the Boy Scouts of America. They have Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts all over America.

They're the ones that had... No, I honestly didn't know that they were the ones that did the Pine Box Derby. I thought that was something completely different you were having. The Pinewood Derby is part of the Boy Scouts. Okay. I did not know that. It's a race where you take a car. I know what it is.

And you've never done that? No. I was in Santa Barbara until I was six. They had Boy Scouts in Santa Barbara. I'm not saying they didn't. I didn't know about it. And we left when I was six. Moved to L.A.

Lived there until I was 12. Then we moved to Maine. They had Boy Scouts in Maine and LA? I'm sure they did, but it was never an option that I was offered, and I didn't think to ask. Well, no, generally it's the parents. Bill McChesney says, we blow, it's we be loyal scouts. That's what it stands for. And he says, Judah, they're small cars, unlike the soapbox

derby, the Pinewood Derby. Okay. Small cars that are raced. My brother and I actually each won the Pinewood Derby. So you're talking small like this? Yeah. Okay. And then they have to be a certain weight. You can customize them with paint. We chose to glue pennies to the bottom of it to make it a certain weight. Then we took our Pinewood Derby cars, my dad, my brother, and I, into the grocery store, where we, and it was very ceremonious. It was a bonding opportunity for my father, my brother, and I. We took the cars to the grocery store, to the vegetable, the hanging weight, and we put them in there to make sure that they were underweight and then my brother won it i think he was at the cub scout level i believe i was at the we blow level and and we still are very proud of that story my dad my brother and i it comes up over the holidays

the time an accountant a cpa and two uh rug rats swept the pinewood derby what was that circa like 1989 i would think you would want your child if you have a son to be in the boy scouts at least to start to a certain point i wouldn't yeah i certainly wouldn't have a problem with it i think it would be great what is i mean i i loved i loved uh tromping around uh whether it was i didn't do quite as much in Santa Barbara, being six. I mostly just went across the street to the park. But L.A., you used to go all over the place. Once we got to Maine, oh, man, there were woods.

Travel through the woods and the cemetery to get to this industrial parkway where there was a comic book shop. Nothing like growing up in Maine where your playground is the cemetery and the industrial park. Exactly. Do we settle on what is a good temperature for an office? I don't think we'll ever settle on that. You prefer 72.

I'm going to go 67. 71, 72 would be good. Conversation we had off air with the Earpies, you and I, about inflation and Charlottesville's escalating cost of living. This is just conversation that you and I thought would make good show topic fodder.

If you want to put the headlines on screen, that would be great, and we will get to them here on the Thursday edition of the program. Inflation is down, but the effects remain in Seville. We'll explain how Charlottesvillians are impacted today and how much the cost of living will uptick and why we think it will uptick on today's program. I also want to discuss Ginny Hu's suggested topic of the LA Times laying off 20% plus of its newsroom. And according to one report, more than 2,500 journalism jobs have vanished, Judah, in 2023. Is that from the AP News? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm seeing. Estimated 2,681 news jobs. That's to be exact, 2,681? Were lost through the end of November.

Of 2023. That is a boatload. Yeah. LA Times, one of the world's most prestigious periodicals, has just laid off 20% plus of its newsroom staff. The photo department was gutted. The

Washington bureaus were gutted. The sports department were gutted. The institutional memory was gutted. The Washington bureaus were gutted. The sports department were gutted. The institutional memory laden and the reporters with institutional memory were the ones that were canned because they had the high paychecks. We'll talk about that on today's program. Tacos Gomez has opened a brick and mortar location. I know the Tacos Gomez has opened a brick-and-mortar location. I know the Tacos Gomez family extremely well. Kevin and Miguel, brothers that you often see work in the Tacos Gomez food truck. Which one is the one that's usually at the window taking orders? They alternate. I've only ever seen one guy.

Well, I wasn't there when you were there. I mean, every time I've ever gone there, there's only ever been one guy. Yeah, Kevin and Miguel often work there. If they're not on the window, that's probably Miguel. They're working at the back, you know, making the food. Dick has one of the nicest guys in the world. That's probably Miguel. And he loves Laza, too.

Both those boys, both those fellas are racket aficionados. Stand-out racket players. Racquetball, squash, fantastic athletes. I know those guys well. And how about that Virginia basketball victory last night against the Wolfpack in overtime? The odds to make the big dance for Tony Bennett's boys have certainly improved. Sean Tubbs, this is a perfect topic to start the program. If you want to put the first headline as a lower third on screen, Sean Tubbs is the president and publisher of the Charlottesville Substack. Is it Town Crier Productions? Is it the Charlottesville Substack?

What is his brand? I know it used to be Town Crier Productions. Okay, so he's the president and publisher of Town Crier Productions. He has today this story out. Real property assessments for 2024 should come out in Charlottesville on Friday, which is tomorrow. He says that he's going to be following very closely to see if we're going to have a double-digit assessment increase in Charlottesville like we've seen in years past. A double-digit assessment increase at the same time that the city,

you can make an argument, is spending money on, or is allocating money on things that don't necessarily keep taxes in check. A lot of folks raised eyebrows when council voted 5-0 to take the American Rescue Fund money that was earmarked by the federal government and sent to jurisdictions for economic stimulus. That sat in an account in Charlottesville, was not utilized for economic stimulus during the pandemic to help small businesses out. If you help small businesses out during a pandemic, what's the cause and effect of that?

It's going to mean more tax revenue generated. Instead, the city let that $4 million stay in account. And now in 2024, which is what, more than two years removed since the COVID pandemic, the money is going to be allocated to purchase buildings, two of them. I think you have the Google Maps and the Google Street photos that you can put on screen. And these buildings that are going to be in purchase, the Scuttlebutt, although Sam Sanders is backtracking on this, he backtracked a bit on that on Monday's meeting, saying we're not certain it's going to be a homeless shelter.

Is it Levy and Avon? Avon and, yeah, Levy. Avon and Levy, the two buildings currently sit. He backtracked a little bit on Monday's meeting saying it's not a done deal that it's going to be a shelter, but our little birdies say that is the case. Charlottesville Tomorrow certainly reported that. Belmontonians were speaking in Monday's meeting against it. So my point is this. It ain't going to be cheaper to live here. Judah was very quick to highlight this. Tubbs says this. Will there be a third year of an average increase in double digits on real

property assessments for 2024? A third year on average. That's compound increases, right? Yeah. That's double digit increases, three straight years. Compound compound increases, right? Yeah. That's double-digit increases, three straight years. Compound assessment increases, right? Yeah. That's massive increases. We're not talking 30% when it's like that. Right. You offer a couple of data points that you want to get to,

and then we want to ask this topic, ask this question. How are civilians going to be impacted and how much will the cost of living uptick and why? Judah, the show is yours. I don't have a whole lot of numbers to provide, but just groceries. A typical basket of groceries is costing 20% more than it did just three years ago. So while inflation, while the speed that inflation is rising has leveled off, the effects of that inflation are sticking around. And, you know, of all the things you can cut back on, most of us aren't going to stop eating.

It's not going to be food and it's not going to be gas. The primary taxes of people are food and gas. Yes, we get taxed by Charlottesville. Yes, we get taxed by the Commonwealth. And yes, we get taxed by Charlottesville. Yes, we get taxed by the Commonwealth. And yes, we get taxed by the federal government. But we eat every day. And we drive our vehicles, most of us, somewhere every day. And they need fuel.

So when those uptick in price, that stings immediately. And Charlottesville is not a, well, Charlottesville and Albemarle are not. Are you speaking really softly? No. Okay. Some folks are saying that. Charlottesville and Albemarle are... I'll turn myself up a little bit.

Maybe just slightly. This isn't a walkable city. This is not a what? This is not a walkable city. Some would say otherwise. Natalie Ostrand would say otherwise. She wants to have a road diet a road diet to be otherwise and there are certainly parts that are walkable but

i think there's i don't it's just i don't see it the way i see some of the walkable places that I've been. It's just, yeah, there are parts of it. You can walk around downtown Charlottesville, sure. But if you want to go from downtown Charlottesville to... Which part of Charlottesville City is not walkable? The city specifically. I think it would be extremely different, difficult for you to walk on High Street, for example. Yeah, definitely.

Where else in this city would we find to be extremely difficult to be able to walk places? I'm sincerely asking that question. I mean, obviously, 250 kind of cuts across the middle of everything. But you don't necessarily have to walk 250 to get places. No, you don't. But if you want to get to the other side of 250, where do you go? You have to walk somewhere that crosses 250. I think Charlottesville is more walkable than people give it credit for.

Could it improve its walkability? Yes. Can bike lanes be improved? Yes. Can safety for pedestrians and bikers be improved? Absolutely. Is Natalie Oshren's idea of a road diet, which is basically proposing the narrowing of roads to promote vehicle safety, is it on the cusp of Looney Tunes? Yes.

Are folks that make the argument that it's no need to eliminate parking requirements and eliminating parking requirements is a great idea for a jurisdiction? That's a good idea? No, that's not a good idea. Eliminating parking requirements is bananas. We're still not a society that it's not going to position or prioritize owning a car. You want to eliminate parking requirements? Take a look at Belmont on a Friday night or a Saturday night when Tavala and Mockingbird and the local are hopping and M mas tapas are hopping with patrons. If you're a Belmontonian on a Friday or Saturday night, you have hundreds of additional vehicles in your neighborhoods, often in your neighborhood, often blocking your driveway.

You were going to say something now. Yeah, I was going to counter your Looney Tunes comment with the fact that what's the alternative? Is it taking over people's front yards? There are Park Street, going up a lot of Park Street, there's not even a sidewalk on half the street. And if you wanted to do something with the road, how do you go about it? You can't just take 10 feet of someone's front yard, can you? I think her alternative is reasonable

if you really want to do something with the roads. On Barracks Road, if you take a look at Barracks Road, and Deep Throat put this on my radar, there are homes on Barracks Road next to the Blue Ridge neighborhood. My wife and I looked at one of these homes very recently. Fantastic, fantastic price. Fantastic listing. Bob Hedrick of Ness Realty had the listing.

Tim Heafy's old house went under contract after an extended period of time on the market. It was an all-cash buyer that was willing to close in three weeks. But Barracks Road, part of the front yards of those homes

are being taken away from them. And they're being taken away from them in order to build a bike lane on Barracks Road. In fact, there's a Barracks Road study online, Deep Throat, what's the name of the website for that Barracks Road study? See if I can find it. Barracks Road, if he's watching,

may send it to me. Barracks Road. So you prefer that solution to her idea of slimming the roads a little bit to provide that space rather than taking it from someone eminent domain style? The website is barracksemmetimprovements.com. Barracksemmetimprovements.com. Barracksemmetimprovements.com. I think some of Natalie Alshurn's ideas are good on paper, but not realistic. That's fair. They make sense on a political platform when you're running to try to get on a council or sit on the dais.

She's a city councilor, guys, for those who don't know. But some of her ideas, I think, are not realistic. That's fair. You know, if you're going to narrow and shrink roads in the city, where's that money going to come from? Well, the same could be said of taking someone's part of someone's front yard, right? If you're going to create more bike lanes, like this was my thing. Like I know Buford, I know Buford needed to be rehabilitated. I know schools around here need to be improved and rehabilitated. And I know that costs tons of money to do.

But if you rehabilitate and remodel these schools and it costs $50, $60, $70, $80, $90 million to do it, the kids that you're trying to help at these schools will be pushed and gentrified out of the community because you have to raise the taxes to do the work. We want a bike and walker-friendly city, narrower roads, more bike lanes, better sidewalks. We all want that. But is the opportunity cost of narrower roads and more bike lanes and better sidewalks,

uptick in taxes that's going to push the people out that are on the financial margin? Folks that are not on the financial margin, ladies and gentlemen, have cars. We keep going the direction we're growing with this city. It's not going to be the people that are walking. It's going to be the people that are walking and biking and taking public transportation that are pushed out because the folks that have the money that can withstand the tax increases have cars, have vehicles. When you have a vehicle and you have access to a vehicle that's reliable and you can afford the gasoline, you're not caring about the bike lane or the sidewalk. Comments coming in fast and furious. John Blair on the Pinewood Derby said, my son just

finished his Pinewood Derby car. He's going to do the engineering weights, graphite axles this weekend. Salute to your son, John Blair. I wish him the best of luck in the Pinewood Derby. Ginny Hu on Twitter, if you can go to my Twitter account, in the at portion, the notifications of my Twitter account, she shared her final Pinewood Derby card called Swan Song. She won in the all-comers category. And her Pinewood Derby card looks absolutely adorable. It's got two swans on it. I would love to show that photo on screen.

Albert Graves watching the program, he says, Microsoft pays billions to acquire Activision, Blizzard Games, gaming, and then announces it will be laying off 1,900 employees immediately. Jenny Hu says, the effects of inflation are huge. I'm currently planning three different nonprofit events. And while we always try to be frugal, food costs are really hurting us right now. Warrior AG says, I think a good question might be, why hasn't the minimum living wage risen the same as gas, milk, and most staples of life in the past 30 years? Those are all good questions. Let's get to Deep Throat.

You got Jenny Who's Pinewood Derby car on? No. What did you say it was? It's on notifications on my Twitter account. Okay. Gotcha. And she shared it there. Let's get to number one in the polls. We need to get some photos on screen. He highlights a smart mayor pointing out the problem with students and demanding accountability. The mayor of Blacksburg and shares a link from the Roanoke Times. Deep Throat does. And he says,

I think you could just soldier that and not weld it. Solder. Solder, thank you. Yeah, that's what I was talking about. I don't know the exact terminologies. Could you do that? When I was talking about, I don't know the exact terminologies. Could you do that? When I was talking about...

I mean, solder is just... You just need like a... A Bic lighter, some twigs, and some shrubbery? Yeah, basically. Can you solder it? With the right tools, yeah. Okay, that's my point. Wouldn't we just buy something new

if we don't have the tools to do it? Wouldn't it be much easier just to pay $18 for a new... You want to buy a whole new arm stand? That's fine. I mean, this one's kind of... The time involved with fixing it and finding the tools on what I pay you would far surpass the cost of just buying something new from scratch. Okay. I mean, I don't care.

Yeah, I guess that's my point. I prefer fixing things, and you're usually fairly frugal, so... Fixing things at a point where it far surpasses the cost of buying from scratch is not smart use of resources. I'm not sure why you think it would far out. You don't have the tools.

You don't have the tools right now. You're right. So the first challenge would be finding the tools. I'm sure there's someone in Charlottesville that has. Who do you suggest? Who do I suggest? Right. Right.

Well, look, I honestly don't care. And you seem to be very passionate about not letting me do any... I'm just being reasonable. He also says this. On assessments, the data was posted briefly by accident on open data portal this morning, then pulled down.

I did not get to download it in time, but I got to eyeball. Looked like smaller increase in assessments this year than last year. That's good intel right there. Do you have an idea of the smaller increase there, Deep Throat? I would love to get

your perspective on that. He says, my time is worth a lot in the open market, and it would always be more sensible for me to hire somebody. But come see my boiler room with my custom-wired relays that took up an entire Saturday to do. Nice. And he says the few houses he checked were a 5% increase on the assessments. So three years of double digits, and then this particular year, a 5% increase. Stephanie Wells Rhodes, there's no doubt in my mind Larry Rhodes could do it. And Stephanie, I saw Glenn today of Clyde Smith. I love Glenn. And team member Kenny, I didn't catch Kenny's last name, seems to be learning or apprenticing under Glenn of Clyde Smith HVAC.

I very much recommend that company for anything heating and cooling related. They're fantastic. Phillip Dow says, if you want to live in a walkable area in Seville, you need to have deep pockets. That's 100% true. You want to live in a walkable area in Seville, you need to have deep pockets. That's 100% true. You want to live in a walkable area? Exactly what I said, is that there are some parts of Charlottesville that are walkable. But if you're talking about walking all around, it's just, who would even want to? I would say all of North Downtown is walkable.

All of Belmont, all of Woolen Mills is walkable. All of Hogwaller is walkable. All of Lewis Mountain is walkable. All of Belmont, all of woolen mills is walkable. All of hog waller is walkable. All of Lewis mountain is walkable. The star Hill neighborhood is walkable. But if you have to drive to somewhere that's walkable and then walk around in it, is it really walkable? I don't follow. Here's the car. You got a Jenny's Pinewood Derby car. Yeah, It's pretty awesome. It is awesome. Congratulations on the victory. I think you would put together a fantastic Pinewood Derby vehicle, Judah. I think I would.

I think I would. Vanessa Parkhill, the stance towards roads and parking is a government thing. It knows better than those in their community. She says, narrowing roads, it's like the traffic calming nonsense on Park Street. Not a fan. Park Street is a cluster dock. Quack, quack, quack. The back-to-back lights on 250 are an absolute mess. Yeah.

Absolute mess. No doubt. Vanessa Parkhill says people who have the money and support these policies are like Al Gore. I'll get on my jet to then throw carbon offset money into some fund. Then you should ride a bicycle. Yeah. Rules for me. Rules for thee, not for me.

Holly Foster says an office temperature should be in the 72 degree range. Grayson says we like our thermostat set at 68. Thomas says I understand what Judah is saying, but he doesn't pay the bills. Nora Gaffney says, the city owns part of many of our front yards. I know that because it's the case for me in Belmont. Sidewalks would be great. She's in favor of sidewalks. Many of the homeowners on barracks will lose a portion of their front yards to this project to reshape Barracks Road. And I did a little research on that because we were intrigued or looking at a house on Barracks Road. We have

aspirations of moving closer to work and school and play than where we're currently at in the Keswick area. Your mindset changes when you have children and they have busy schedules when you also have an extremely busy schedule as well. So this uptick fuel is still $3. We've just gotten to the point where it's just going to be $3 and we accept it.

Yeah, well, that's the same thing that's happening with groceries. You know, there was a giant spike in egg prices for a while, and everybody was in an uproar. And thankfully, I believe egg prices have gone back down. But a lot of the rising prices that we've seen have not subsided. And so I think most people are just getting used to scrimping a little more when they go to the grocery store. What else are you going to do? I was driving down Pantops, and I'm a Tiger Fuel market reward member. So I try to get gas at the various Tiger Fuels

that are strategically positioned around town. And I saw the gas. From what I found, the cheapest gas in Albemarle is either coming down Pantops because of the Wawa or it's that gas that is right off of the Rio Road. Rio Road, there's three gas stations next to each other. That's right up past where you live.

Okay, yeah, yeah. I know what you're talking about. You know those three gas stations on Rio Road? Yeah, once you actually get past the Parkway. Job Warner Parkway. And what's it called? KTAC.

Yeah, there are those three gas stations. Those three, the Pantop stretch or those three gas stations, maybe folks make the argument for Costco, but I'm rarely on the side of town. It's gotten to the point where I like celebrate seeing 297, 296, 299 a gallon gas. I mean, I went to Wawa yesterday and the gas station right across the street from it, this was on 29,

the gas station right across the street from it was 10 cents higher. I was like, well, guess where I'm going. What we need to highlight is the following, is this impacts so much of the community in ways that we may not even be considering. Ways that are prevalent or top of mind, for example, Reeds, the grocery store. They're dying the death of a thousand cuts. They're dying the death of a thousand cuts.

The neighborhood is now gentrifying. It's becoming wealthier, yuppier, and more homogenous than what it was 10 or 15 years ago. As a result, the neighborhood, which was often walking to Reed's for groceries, is now not walking to Reed's to groceries. They're in their Teslas or their Priuses or their SUVs driving to Whole Foods or Wegmans. Or they're Instacarting, or they're just having the groceries delivered to their doorstep. They're also dying the death of a thousand cuts cuts in that as gas escalates in price, their providers of food are raising the cost on them because it costs more to ship the groceries. They're dying the death of 1,000 cuts because grocery prices have uptick in price point,

so those that are left in the neighborhood around them that still want to patronize REITs can't purchase the same volume of groceries in one trip. They're picking and choosing what to get. That's a top-of-mind example. Another top-of-mind example is what's happening with the daily progress in the news business. We've talked about that a few weeks now. I would make a legitimate argument, and I want nothing more than the daily progress in the news business. We've talked about that a few weeks now. I would make a legitimate argument, and I want nothing more than the daily progress to survive. I sincerely mean this. They create content for us to talk about on this show. I want them to survive.

But here's the point. You look at this model where it's a paywall for content, and you see how few subscribers they have, and the data is present on the Lee Enterprises website. They have to release this information. Deep Throat said it to us the other day with a screenshot of how much it was.

It was like 5,000 or 6,000 people subscribing to this. He sent us the number. They have 1,000 unique visitors per day. That's meager. Meager. Actual subscription is like 6,500 people. And he's looking at the data here.

You have 1,000 unique visitors per day and 6,500 actual subscribers and then compound it, you have web browsers that are blocking ads that are showing up on their site? Well, when you... What are you selling here? Yeah. Well, when people go to a website enough times and get told that you can't view what they've got unless you

get a subscription of course your numbers are going to go down on a daily basis because no it's not like people are continuing to go to the website hoping to find something they're just oh well i'm not paying for i'm not paying for the daily progress so i'm just going to stop going there because there's no point in going to the website if If I'm just going to get hit with a pop-up that says, get a subscription. He says there are Tik Tokers who record popping their own zits, who get 10 X, the unique views. I mean, yeah, it's true. Oh, I know. I'm just sad. I mean, the social content is cannibalizing something that we love Janice Boyce Trevelyan watching the social content is cannibalizing something that we love. Janice Boyce Trevelyan watching the program.

Do we have her photo that you can put on screen? My parents are on Social Security. They get a raise in their payment and charge more than the raise in their medical costs for Medicare. Our elderly are absolutely suffering here. And I'm not trying to be doom and gloom. Philip Dow, let's get his photo on screen, one of the key members of our family. Gas is definitely going up because of the situation happening across the seas. For safety reasons, freighters are having to travel much further distance.

This includes food. Absolutely. I hate to tell you this, but you're going to have a population uptick here, and I've highlighted why a number of times on the program. That is thousands of incremental people earning higher than the $123,300, according to HUD per household median, coming here, further driving the cost of living in this community. And that's going to happen in the next five years. UVA straight up said that will be

the data, the biotech school is going to have that impact. On the record, 2,000 to 3,000 new people coming, they said. I've said it on this talk show, and it's created bitterness and anger from some that it's not a 40-hour-a-week community anymore. It's a 60-hour-a-week

workweek community. And I said that's a shame. It's a shame, but it's reality. Okay. But you're talking about gentrification as though it's a good thing or as though you don't mind. I'm not talking about it as a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just talking about gentrification as though it's a good thing or as though you don't mind. I'm not talking about it as a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just talking about what it actually is. Okay. You're basically saying that people can't live here anymore unless they have the better jobs. And I still say that's a shame.

I'm not saying better jobs. I'm saying it's probably a 60-hour work week community. It's not whether better. It's about clocking the hours. We know UVA is not going to go away, right? We know UVA is attracting more people here, right? We know Amazon is going to attract more people here, right? We know Northrop Grumman is going to attract more people, right?

We know that people can work remotely and hybridly now and are leaving higher cost of living areas to come to a place where they spent the best four years of their life, right? Something like that. The writing is on the wall. If you build it, they will come. Is that James Earl Jones? Is that Kevin Costner or Shoeless Joe Jackson? I think it's if you build it, he will come.

I'm changing it to if you build it, they will come to Charlottesville. And it is a shame. It is a shame. But eventually we have to be true to ourselves and real with the reality that is today. I think eventually the reality is going to be that Charlottesville is not going to end up on best of places any longer. I think that's probably true. I think that's probably true. And that's why I've said multiple times that Charlottesville will become the menage a trois birthed child of Austin, Texas, Aspen, and Greenwich. That's what Charlottesville is going to become. Vacation resort.

High education. Wealthy suburb. Albert Greggs, let's get his photo on screen, number 10 in the polls. We have to get Ginny Hu's photo on screen as well. Albert Greggs says what's happening with REEDS is a microcosm of exactly what is happening with the local housing market. Well said. I'm going to retweet that. I'm going to retweet that.

I'm going to retweet that from Albert Graves. You want to unpack what he just said there, Judah? Say it again? What's happening with REITs is a microcosm of exactly what is happening with the local housing I mean, yeah, prices are going up and nothing is getting easier. The builders aren't going to – are they going to keep building in Charlottesville? Some of them may. with the Ivy Road apartment project, people aren't going to, I don't know that anyone's going to keep building houses in Charlottesville unless they're subsized somehow, right? Depending on who you talk to,

they think the developer behind the Ivy Road Tower on Truist, where they're trying to build a 130-foot tall apartment building, is utilizing a smoke and mirror tactical PR approach to drive the cost of value of what they own. So UVA will give them a larger bag of money. I heard that yet again on Tuesday from a developer that is very much in the know that I was playing doubles with. And he said, afterwards, this is what's happening. So they have no intention of building it. Multiple people that do this professionally for a living. In fact, I think Deep Throat has even made this argument. Multiple people that literally do this professionally for a living,

building apartment towers, multifamily towers, said the math doesn't pencil out for this project. Like, I had a conversation with somebody that has done this, I would say, been a part of over 100 projects like this. And he says, there's not a chance in HE double hockey sticks, this math pencils out, for the apartment tower in the truest location by Moe's on Ivy Road. Interesting.

That all it is is a PR smoke and mirror drive value of the real estate game, so UVA gives them a larger bag of money. Okay. That's good to know. Albert Graves, darn sure in favor of more sidewalks and bike lanes for pedestrians but even more in favor of pedestrians actually using them and staying out of the middle of the road where the big heavy metal objects move very fast. 100%. 100%. 100% agree with that. We're in agreement.

Make sure you're rotating those lower thirds if you can there, J-dubs. Do you want to talk about the L.A. Times? Number one in the family, let's get his photo on screen, says 100% agree with your developer friend. Ivy Road is a holdup job. Number one in the family, if you can get his photo on screen. What does that mean? Who's number one in the family, if you can get his photo on screen. Who's number one in the power ranking? Oh, is that a deep throat? Yeah. Talk about it every day. Okay. Um, and he says, and once we had a precedent of Wendell yoking the yokels, more of this will happen he imagines others trying the same LA Times story is a sad one 20% of the newsroom

laid off this announced Tuesday Holly Foster, she loves that paper, and over 2,500 journalism jobs vanished. You have the exact number, right? Yeah, it was 2,650, let's see, 2,600, where was it? 2,681. Holly Foster said, I'm so sad that my hometown paper is laying off so many people. I grew up with the LA Times.

Holly Foster, her photo on screen, if you could please. She is, what number is Holly? I'm looking at it right here. 24 in the poll. She needs to climb the ranking. Holly needs to be in the... I think she needs to climb to 20.

Change 20. Holly Foster needs to climb to 20 in the power rankings. Interchange 20, if you could, please, sir. This is the question I have for you that's very sincere. We're living on the social media platforms, right? Everyone? What do you mean living on? You mean spending a lot of time on them?

Yeah. Yeah? The most used apps lot of time on them? Yeah. Yeah? The most used apps in the world are what? I don't have the numbers, but Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. I would say the most used apps in the world, Facebook, TikTok, most traffic apps in the world. I'd say Facebook is probably still number one. I'd say TikTok is probably in the two slot. Can you see if you can find that data?

Oh, here it is. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, all in the top, most used apps. The question I have for you is this. If we're living within the apps, is there any use for a, what is the use for a website? Furthermore, if we're living within the apps, should the content not be created within the apps themselves? I don't think that's always possible. How so? Because a lot of those apps are made for easy dissemination of other information into kind of like a blurb.

For instance, nobody's going to write a long article on Facebook. You can't write one on Twitter. Yes, you can. Yeah, you've got to write it in bits and pieces. No. All you have to do is pay $8 a month and you have unlimited copy point.

I've never seen an article length tweet. What? How much time do you spend on Twitter? Not a whole lot. I spend a lot of time on Twitter. Have you seen what Bill Ackman's been doing?

With his coverage of the Ivy Leagues and how the Ivy Leagues are allowing nasty rhetoric to be spread at schools like Harvard when it comes to what's happening in Israel. Have you seen what Bill Ackman's doing with his coverage on Business Insider? He's writing like 5,000, 6,000 word dissertations. Okay.

Like, check this out. I'll slide over. Right here. Let's get a good one that he's done here. That's more than 140 characters. Yeah, I wouldn't call it an article, though. No, let me get you a good one where it's an article. Especially on his Ivy League content.

I mean, he's got some that are thousands of words. My point is, wouldn't you just publish the content on the social platforms themselves? Wouldn't you just publish the content on the social platforms themselves? You might. Some people have websites for different reasons. I mean, you've got your about pages, your contacts, you've got advertising, whether or not it's effective. But you can still do all that on the social platforms. Like you can put, look at what Kim Kardashian, bad example, but look at what the Kardashians do with sponsored posts on their Instagram accounts. They charge millions of dollars for one Instagram account, one Instagram post. They're kind of in a unique position, though. You have micro-influencers that are doing the same. We do it for I Love Seville. We're not charging millions of dollars, but one post we can post on I Love Seville,

depending on what they want to post, is X amount of dollars. Yeah. I mean, I guess my point is the evolution should be within the apps themselves as opposed to paid walled websites. Look at the media companies that are laying people off. They are media companies for the most part

associated with standalone or breakout websites behind paywalls. Okay. If those media companies instead created the content within the apps themselves and built a community at scale within the apps themselves and then use that community at scale to monetize with ad placement and position content with there, that would be a much better play than a standalone website behind a paywall. Does that make sense? Let's put

this in perspective. What would you think the Daily Progress has from an Instagram following? No idea. A few thousand. Daily Progress has 4,751 followers. What do we think NBC29 has? 6,000?

NBC29 has... They have not done a post. The NBC 29 local NBC affiliate down the street has not done a post in over three years. And NBC 29 has 1,589 followers. Wow. They haven't done a post in over three years on their Instagram account.

That's pretty crazy. It's just... They haven't evolved into where the eyeballs are. Put it in perspective. What does I Love Seville have, following-wise on Instagram? 12,800

plus on Instagram. I Love Seville. You could consolidate what does CBS 19 have? CBS 19 have? CBS 19 has 2,220. You could take CBS 19 and add it up with NBC 29 and add it up with the Daily Progress,

and we're still 30% more when you aggregate those three. And we have a fraction, 95% less people. 98% less people. It's another example of death by a thousand cuts. Or, you know, not evolving. Ginny says that's why you either get short messages or long DMs from me. She's not going to pay the eight bucks. Totally get that. I totally get that. I think most of us aren't going to. Deep Throat says they need to improve the content coverage.

And that would make a huge impact. Vanessa says, I hate to see anyone lose their jobs. Could this in part also be a reflection on how they are reporting versus the medium by which we consume our news content? 100%. They're not putting the content they're creating within the structures, the platforms that we're using every day. They're still trying to use a thinking of a decade ago with the standalone website behind a paywall. Instead, what should happen is the content should be positioned on social platforms, and it should, once the content is positioned on social platforms,

larger followings will be created on those social platforms, and then they can monetize those social platforms, like the Kardashians or like I Love Seville or like The Rock or other micro influencers are doing with putting sponsored posts in front of their communities. One man's opinion. Anything you want to add to that? No, I don't think there's anything I need to add to that. I'm having a hard time hearing you today.

No, I don't think there's anything I need to add to that. I'm having a hard time hearing you today. No, I don't think there's anything I need to add to that. This is from John Blair. No one likes to see job losses, but the problem is this. Newspapers were always predicated on classified ad revenues. No one was paying for journalism in any real sense. The journalism was a delivery device for classified ads. The price you were paying for a paper was nominal. The classified ads subsidized the entire operation.

As you know from being in the industry, this has been an issue since 2000 when Craigslist started to take away classified ads altogether. 100%. 100%. And now Craigslist is paying for, is now charging for classified ads. If you want to put one of your condos or office spaces for rent on Craigslist, it's five bucks to post the ad. And it's still a fantastic way to get tenants, potential tenants. Tacos Gomez, you want to highlight that? That was your idea?

Oh, yeah, I love those guys. It's a shame that they're going to be, I mean, I'm not, I would love to go there for dinner, and it's not going to be a dinner place, so I find that disappointing. But we'll always have the food truck. They're opening up right next to, I think it's where Doodle's

Diner used to be. Papa John's across the street from their food truck. Yeah, next to Papa John's. Great little spot. I mean, right on 250. It's actually genius because their food truck is across the street and they're going to capitalize with two points of sale. They close the brick and mortar early

and then have the staff go from the brick and mortar over to the food truck to help with staffing as it gets busy around dinner time. So the Gomez family, and I know Miguel and Kevin extremely well, take the brick and mortar across the street, which they got probably at a fantastic price. They staff it for breakfast and lunch,

close it in the 2, 230 vicinity, and then head across the street and serve the dinner rush. It's a local family literally having success. And if you have not had the Tacos Gomez tacos, you are missing some of the best tacos in the area. Amazing everything there. Tortoise as well. Or are they called Samit?

What do they call them? I just get the tacos. What do you got? I usually do too. But one time I just had a, I impulsively tried the sandwiches. And, oh. They're better than the tacos? Tacos are my spirit animal.

I could eat tacos every day of the week. But their sandwiches are off the hook good. I'll try it on your recommendation. I'll try it. I recommendation. I'll try it. I appreciate that suggestion. Did you see the Virginia basketball team get the victory last night against NC State in overtime? That's pretty amazing. What's that?

Did you like it? They're doing well again. No, I didn't watch it. You did not watch it? No. Oh. Where would I have watched it? Tortoise.

Online? Okay. No. They won. That's No. They won. That's great. They beat NC State in overtime, and they've improved their chances of making the big dance. Nice.

The NCAA tournament. He has now found a new dynamic for his ball club with the emergence of Jordan Miner and Dante Harris recovering from an ankle injury. This team has toughness in the interior. Miner is a beast on the offensive boards. And Dante Harris is offering another ball handling option. And how about Tane Murray last night off the bench?

They beat a quality NC State team. Did you know UVA has the longest winning streak at home in the nation? I did not know that. The longest home winning streak in the nation is by Tony Bennett in UVA men's basketball. Wow. Two weeks ago, there was a portion of the fan base that was asking if Tony Bennett is the right guy to lead this program. Now, he has changed the dynamic of the team with one player recovering from an ankle injury and the other one finally getting assimilated after transferring from a lower level division of basketball play.

Coming and figuring out the pack line defense that's Jordan Minor and playing fantastically well inside. Do you think they make the big dance? I'm the wrong person to ask. What's your hunch? Sure. You think they can make the big dance? I have no idea. I think they make the big dance.

I'll say yes. I think they make the big dance. I think they're dancing in March. It is not even an educated guess for me. You made the right guess, though. I think they're dancing in March. I think they're dancing in March. I think they're dancing in March. And I'm going to also try your sandwich suggestion.

I will try it in the next few days. I may have to stop at the food truck tonight, because we've been talking about it enough. We'll make a deal. When's the last time you've watched a UVA men's basketball game?

Does you watch, when's the last time you've watched a UVA men's basketball game? Does never count? You've never watched a UVA men's basketball game? You're talking about on TV or online? Like a whole match? It's a game. I don't care. You've never watched a UVA men's basketball game? No. Why would I? I don't care. You've never watched a UVA men's basketball game? No. Why would I? I don't watch sports.

I think we should put that on the short list of things you've never done. You live in Charlottesville. This is a national championship team. I would bet there are folks surprised that you have not watched it. But I'll make a deal with you. I mean, I've gotten to go watch the Lakers play. And I've gotten to go see the Dodgers, and like... But that's Los Angeles.

Yeah. This is Charlottesville. I know. We're doing the I Love Seville show. I'll try one of the Gomez sandwiches. You watch one UVA men's basketball game. That doesn't sound like an acceptable trade-off. How come? Because that's like, how long is a game? Two, three hours? 90 minutes.

90 minutes to two hours. I'm not waterboarding you. You're watching a team that is in your backyard that drives the economy, that is a reigning national champion, play basketball. Yeah. All right. I'm still going to try the Gomez sandwich. I'll try that today, and I'll let the viewers. I'll try it probably this weekend with the better half and the kids and let the community know how it goes. Speaking of never-haves, last night I stopped and got some Chick-fil-A.

Oh, Judah tried Chick-fil-A for the first time in his entire life last night. And I got to give him props. I didn't even ask, but they gave me something on top of the bag when they were handing it to me. And I'm like, I thought maybe it was the barbecue sauce. And I'm just like, okay, what the, I don't know why they're, he's handing me this separately. So I just opened the bag, put it in there and got home, opened it up. I'm like, what? I opened it. It's like white. Like, what the heck is this? I closed the lid and I'm looking at it. I'm trying to like, I think the, the printer didn't do a very good job when it printed out. But finally I managed to read Pup Cup. That's for your dog.

Yeah. And she loved it. And I didn't even ask for it. So, you know. For the first time in his entire life, last night, Judah Wickauer tried Chick-fil-A. And let me guess, you liked it. It was pretty good. Did you get the fried chicken sandwich?

I got the fried chicken sandwich and I got some... Waffle fries? Some nuggets. And nuggets. There you go. We can cross that off your list. I think we should probably watch... Watching a UVA men's basketball...

Have you watched a UVA football game? Yeah, I've actually gone and watched one at the stadium, I think, a few times. My parents used to have season tickets. My mind is somewhat blown at the fact that... How long have you lived in Charlottesville? A long time. 20 years? Longer than that.

Over two decades, the man has lived in Charlottesville, and he's never watched a Virginia Men's basketball. I'm somewhat mind-blown. Maybe as mind-blown as the fact that you never tried Chick-fil-A. But you gave me a chance with the Chick-fil-A. Give me a chance with the men's basketball team. I think you will also enjoy it. Especially

if you can go to the John Paul Jones Arena. Just an idea. I mean, if it's dependent on me going to the arena, then it's probably never going to happen. Fair enough. But it might be a little simpler finding a game to watch online. Okay.

There you go. Judah Wickauer, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Jerry Miller. This is the Thursday edition of the I Love Civo show. You got Kyle Miller, right? Yep. Kyle Miller, 2.15 today, the Kyle Miller show I'm excited for that

we were back at the saddle tomorrow at 12.30 real talk, Keith is going up to Connecticut to visit his grandchildren with Yona so he's off air tomorrow and then the I Love Seville show at 12.30, thank you kindly for joining us on a warmer

Thursday, Take care, everyone. Thank you.