The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Is UVA Fanbase At The Most Apathetic Stage Yet?; 10-Yr Anniversary Of Rolling Stone UVA Frat Story

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Is UVA Fanbase At The Most Apathetic Stage Yet? 10-Yr Anniversary Of Rolling Stone UVA Frat Story UVA Opening New National Intelligence Institute New Guidelines Proposed For DT Mall Dining Areas Should Local Govt Tell DT Merchants What To Do Zillow’s Revised 2025 CVille Home Price Forecast Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Monday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. It's a pleasure to connect with you guys on a crisp Monday afternoon in downtown Charlottesville. We do have a semi-truck loading the non-perishable goods into the grocery store next door, the market street market. So if you see the pleasant humming of a tractor trailer in the background, you will know what that very welcoming and hospitable noise is. Judah Wittkower is working on connecting. I'm seeing some folks asking about this, J-Dubs. My personal Facebook page for the show, for that audience to be able to stream,

give us a thumbs up if that's capable today. Appreciate your hard work on that. Judah Wickauer is the man behind the camera. A lot I want to cover on the show. The football team took it on the chin against SMU. The Mustangs come into Charlottesville and just effing manhandle Tony Elliott's football team. Now, Coach Elliott and the Wahoos have the dubious distinction of heading to Blacksburg on Saturday to get bowl eligible and what are going to be temperatures with wind chill in the teens forecasted today,

temperatures in the teens. Virginia does not win in Blacksburg. It's been a generation since UVA last got a victory in Hokieville. And that leads me to ask you this question. Are we currently, right now, Virginia, its alumni, its fan base, its student population, are we in the most apathetic state

this athletic department has experienced in 30 years? If you think about it, Virginia football had some success, had success, had success with George Welsh and had success in the early Al Groh era. Had a little bit of success with Bronco Mendenhall, but its most noteworthy football success was George Welsh into the early Algro era. The New York Jets, Bill Belichick, protege Algro, the UVA alum Algro, had success early on. Then the football team in the middle toward the end of the Al Groh era started to really struggle. Football then has really never gained traction in the win column since the early Al Groh era, since he went to back-to-back continental tire

bowls and what, beat West Virginia and Pittsburgh in those bowls, if memory serves correct, including a Larry Fitzgerald football team. Tony Bennett then comes to Charlottesville, what, 15, 16 years ago? And when football season started getting dicey, we would always say as fans, well, at least there's basketball, where at least there's Coach Bennett, where at least there's the pack line defense, at least there's Tony, and Tony we trust. Now Tony's gone. The basketball team is clearly a team that may struggle this year after getting walloped

by St. John's and Tennessee and the Bahamas. Now in the fall, as fans, as students, as alumni, we can no longer say at least there's basketball, at least there's Tony, at least there's the pack line. Because the basketball team looks like it's in trouble. That leads me to ask you, the viewer and listener, are we in the most apathetic stage for orange and blue fans, students, alumni that we have seen in at least, what, since prior to George Welsh? I mean, 35 years? Think about it, ladies and gentlemen. We'll talk about that today. We'll talk on today's program, the University of Virginia launching a new institute. God, UVA, left and right, new institutes. This one, a National Intelligence Institute, a new one at the University of Virginia,

a new institute that comes with more jobs. It comes with more jobs. It comes with more activity in the defense sector. Remember about a year ago, a year and change ago, Chamber of Commerce, Albemarle County, City of Charlottesville, all authored or commissioned a study on the economic impact of the defense sector. And Weldon Cooper, through research and data and analysis, concluded that the defense sector drove $1.3 billion,

with a B, in economic activity per year in the Charlottesville, Alamo County, and Greene County areas. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that number is going to be even greater. It's going to be even more significant. Now you have the University of Virginia news that broke this past Friday afternoon. The National Security Data and Policy Institute, a first-of-its-kind partnership between the federal government and the University of Virginia. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire. UVA President Jim Ryan, Mark Warner, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines gathered inside the Rotunda on Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. More economic impact, the defense sector, this time a one-of-a-kind partnership with the University of Virginia. We'll talk about that today. I want to talk on today's program, City Hall of Charlottesville telling downtown mall merchants

what their alfresco dining should look like. I've got a question for you. Should government determine the colors of shaded umbrellas on the downtown mall? Should government determine the color of tables and chairs on the downtown mall? Should government, if it's not connecting J-dubs, we can do it a different day. Yeah. Because we're going to have to go with the content we got. We'll just see if we can troubleshoot tomorrow. Should government tell local merchants who are just struggling to survive what their water and silverware stands outside

in their alfresco dining areas here look like? Is that an overstep, or is that the right step for local government? Is that the right step for a historic district? Is that the right step for the Board of Architectural Review and for City Hall? I sincerely have that question for you. Some merchants have reached out to us and said, good Lord, they're now telling us to conform in yet another way beyond the obscene meals tax

we're contributing to the city. Now they want our umbrellas, our chairs, and our tables to all look the same. Judah, I'm going to ask you which headline is most intriguing to you here in about 15 seconds. I want to talk about that on today's show. And I also want to talk about the 10-year anniversary of the Rolling Stone article that disparaged my personal fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia. pseudonym Jackie graced the cover

and the interior pages of the Rolling Stone in an investigative journalistic quagmire that was proven to be absolute bogus. Absolute bogus. We'll give some love to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. 60 years of consecutive business. John Vermillion, Andrew Vermillion, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply on East High Street.

They do things the right way. Not like Rolling Stone, who did things completely the wrong way with that Phi Kappa Psi article. The Vermillions, good men, their families, great people, employers driving the economy, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. And if you haven't had the food and the cocktails at Mexicali Restaurant on West Main Street, you're missing something special. Johnny Arnalison and River Hawkins, Mexicali Restaurant in the Old World of Beer location. I very much suggest the spicy margarita.

It will leave a lasting impression on your palate, the spicy margarita. Judah Wick, how are we viewing studio camera in a two-shot? I asked you the same question to start each show. It should be no surprise. Which headline most intriguing to you, my friend? I think definitely I'm interested in what's going on with the downtown mall, whether the city council will decide to put restrictions on what they can do, what color chairs they can have. I think some of it might be in little forward action and maybe less necessary for the businesses.

You're saying overstep? Yeah. I was reading something about how they're worried about businesses putting up things like Christmas decorations and then leaving them up. And Christmas lights, Janis Boyce Trevelyan is talking about. Much as we often worry about our neighbors doing, leaving them up too long. But I think that's more something to solve when it happens rather than trying to set up regulations to prevent it. Well, son, you know what? Can I ask you a question?

What is too long for Christmas lights? Want to know something? It is November 25th right now. My wife, two weeks ago, was putting the Christmas lights up at our house. The Christmas lights, I can tell you the exact day, were up at our house on November 16th, Saturday, outside our house. Is that too early?

Are Christmas lights a turnoff? I get if the Christmas lights are going on into the first quarter, but is it too early to put Christmas lights on? You go into Costco, you go into Sam's Club, you go into Walmart, in October, they're pushing Christmas down our throats, the commercialization of the Christmas holiday. Yeah. Are you saying my better half on the 16th of November,

that was too early? I don't think that's too early. I think, you know, it's obviously subjective, and I think there's a certain element of garishness. Like, if your house can be seen from outer space... Clark Griswold outer space in early November, then you're probably overdoing it. But lining your eaves with lights a month and a half before Christmas,

I don't really think that's excessive. Thank you. God, I thought you were going to take the take that it was excessive. Don't we need any, if you want to put the lower third on screen, we can go out of order with some of the headlines that we have. Don't we need as much pep and zest and spirit downtown as possible? I'm impressed with what Greer Achenbach and the Friends of Seville nonprofit are doing with building family-friendly atmosphere in downtown Charlottesville. But good Lord, if the merchants on their own dime want to hang some lights and build some holiday spirit to then be told by the Grinches in City Hall that, no, you cannot do this, give me a break. And let me ask you this question here.

Go ahead. I have no problem with businesses putting up a few lights, decorating their planners, whatever. I'm reminded of, I'm sure we've all been to a town or a city where you drive down and all the streetlights have some type of tinsel or lighting element that's the same on all the streetlights, like lining the street. I'm sure we saw that when we went to Providence, New Jersey. I've seen it. We saw that at Morristown.

We used to service a lot of business in New Jersey. We would stay in Morristown for a week every 90 days or so. The new Providence, the Chatham area. Morristown was our favorite place to stay because of the nightlife. And Morristown had that feel, yes. Hendersonville, North Carolina. My parents live in Flat Rock. And Hendersonville, North Carolina has that feel. Yes. Hendersonville, North Carolina. My parents live in Flat Rock and Hendersonville, North Carolina has that feel where they have a sense of uniformity, synchrony with its

downtown holiday decor. Yeah. I would like to see that, but barring that, yeah, let the restaurants and businesses put up some lights and help drive the holiday cheer for the season. I mean, is it not overstep? Your umbrellas have to be a certain color. Your chairs and tables have to be a certain color. Your water stands where you store your ice water and your tea and your sodas and your silverware have to be a certain color. Your railings have to be a certain color. I mean, they're creating such barriers of entry or they're creating such impediments of creativity that if they're not careful, it will diminish engagement. It will diminish mercantile and merchant engagement. And it's at a time when they don't want to do that. They're already creating merchant disengagement or merchant disenchantment with the meals tax

that constantly upticks. The merchants are straight up saying, guys, these are headwinds for us at a time we can't experience headwinds. And now they're coming to us and saying, Jerry, utilize the platform and let the community know that the creativity is being stripped from us with this level of uniformity or conformity that is expected of us. Many that go into the restaurant business, yes, many of them are balance sheet and profit and loss and cost of goods, hall monitors. But many that go into the restaurant industry are coming from a creative space because they like to do wonderful things with food

and appeal to people's palates and make them happy. And they feel that they're being stripped of their creativity. I don't mind a little uniformity, a uniform code for, not a uniform code, but a code of uniformity

for the downtown mall spaces. Again, it goes towards having uniform decorations up and down on the light posts. And they do some of that. At the same time, I think that you need to allow a little freedom. I think whatever rules and regulations you place, they should mostly be in place to prevent something absolutely outrageous that's going to clash with everything else on the mall. Deep Throat via direct message highlights what Janice

Boyce Trevelyan does on the one of our 15 Facebook pages. They both say, before you tell local merchants what to do with their umbrellas, their tables, their silverware, their napkins, their railings, and their chairs, why don't, their napkins, their railings, and their chairs.

Why don't you instead clean up the downtown mall when it comes to a houseless population, a crime perception issue? Gary Palmer just walks by the studio, the fantastic town real estate broker. We saw Jim Hingely and now Gary Palmer. This little view, this little vantage point we have in downtown Charlottesville is a lens into the movers and shakers of the region. Neil Williamson says the Gordonsville lights are up from November through March. And he shares a link. Look at the beautiful...

Can you go to my Facebook page? Can you go put me on a one-shot, if you could, please? This might be the easiest way to do it because we're doing this in live show. Am I on a one-shot? Yeah. This is what Neil shares. Let me know if they can see this right here.

Can they see this? Yeah, I think so. They can see a lighted tree or two. The entire downtown Gordonsville from November until March has festive decor up. I knew my wife wasn't wrong to light the house on the 16th of November. Anyone casting shade on her for getting in the Christmas spirit, bah humbug. Georgia Gilmer says it's absolute overreach by City Hall. Kevin Yancey says it's nitpicking.

Randy O'Neill offers the suggestion that the umbrellas should be commissioned art exhibit. Paint them. That'd be cool. Make them fun. Use them as a art, what do you call it? The art canvas. Yeah.

That's an interesting idea. I guess the point before we get off this topic is they have enough headwinds already. Yeah. And they're feeling stripped of creativity. And they're asking just to get from the start line to the end line, which is paying their bills.

Stop telling them to spend money on certain criteria to fit a mold that folks that have no real skin in the game are asking them of. All right, a couple other topics I want to get to on today's show. I want you to get the Rolling Stone headline up. This one near and dear to my heart. It's the 10 year anniversary of the Rolling Stone article, Judah. The Rolling Stone article that depicted a gang rape at Phi Kappa Psi on the grounds of the University of Virginia. This one near and dear to my heart because I was a Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Virginia. Lived there for two years.

The article proved to be absolutely bogus, and it turned out to be one of the most significant journalistic flops, maybe in American history. A story that captivated the country because of the graphic nature of what was investigated and reported upon. And then a story that as the new cycle progressed, a story that started getting investigated by other outlets like the Washington Post. The unfortunate nature of this article was not how it disparaged Phi Kappa Psi, which it did. It made us all look bad to the point I remember over Thanksgiving, which is a few days from now. Ten years ago, I remember sitting at the Thanksgiving

table at my grandmother's house, and my grandmother brings up, and my brother was also a Phi Psi, and brings up at Thanksgiving in front of our entire extended family to my brother and I, so boys, you guys were both Phi Kappa Psi's at UVA. You saw the Rolling Stone article. Is this what you guys did for pledging and went through? And I said, my brother didn't speak. I said, Grandma, that is absolutely absurd and ridiculous. And then my brother piped up and said, yeah, absolutely. And you wait. Most of this is going to be proven to be not true. And I agreed with him. And then months later, the story starts to unravel. Phi Kappa Psi does its own investigation. It finds out that there was no party that night.

It highlights the fact that pledging never took part in the fall, like the article suggested. My brother and I both highlighted that. We didn't do pledging in the fall. We did in the spring. The article, the Phi Kappa Psi National Investigation, the national chapter, also found that there was no brother

that matched the criteria that was depicted in the article. Long story short, as you know now, as the viewers and listeners know now, this article, from start to finish, a phony. And Rolling Stone paid our fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, $1,650,000 in settlement money. Rolling Stone has never been the same since, journalistic integrity-wise, how it's viewed by its readers. Remember, was it Jason Blair, the journalist who made up stuff?

Wasn't that it? Wasn't he? Yeah, Jason Blair, J-A-Y-S-O-N Blair. He resigned from the newspaper, the New York Times, in May in 2003 in the wake of discovery of fabricating and plagiarizing stories. There's a movie about Jason Blair. It's that category of plagiarism and phonism and BS. The sad part of that Rolling Stone article was this.

Sexual rapes and malpractice, sexual malpractice happens. But when a journalist uses a platform like the Rolling Stone to write about it in phony and bogus ways, it just sets back others that are involved in something so terrible and keeps them from potentially reporting it or going to the proper authorities because of stuff like this. Yeah. Crying wolf. The crying wolf. That was the most damning aspect of the article.

Damning yes to our fraternity and damning yes to the University of Virginia and damning yes to Greek life at UVA, but the most damning aspect was what it did to others that truly experienced some of the graphic elements in this article that then were hesitant or resistant to come forward with what happened to them. Yeah. If it makes it tougher for a woman to, to report something that actually happened, then it was definitely a,

definitely a blow to, to honesty and, you honesty and women getting the attention they deserve when something like this actually happens. Sabrina Erdely, the author of the Rolling Stone article, titled A Rape on Campus, the 10-year anniversary of this article. Unbelievable. 10 years flies. Great coverage in the Cavalier Daily today about the 10-year anniversary. I would encourage you to go to CavDaily.com, CavalierDaily.com, and read the article titled,

10 Years Later, Student Journalists Discuss Retracted Rolling Stone article. Interesting. They do a fantastic job on this coverage. They highlight the fact that just a few months earlier on grounds at the University of Virginia, student Hannah Graham was kidnapped and murdered. So when Hannah Graham was kidnapped and murdered, one of the editors of the Cavalier Daily described grounds as a volatile atmosphere and the Rolling Stone article, a powder keg setting the stage for the article. Grounds, a powder keg setting the stage for the article. Grounds a powder keg setting the stage for the

article. All right, a couple other headlines I want to get to today. The reporting in the Daily Progress today about news that broke on Friday with a new National Intelligence Institute opening at UVA was good. Jason Armesto is the author. Jason Armesto is, I would say, probably the Daily Progress's, the top journalist at the Daily Progress right now is Hall Spencer. Neighbor, Hall Spencer, my neighbor, former founder of the Hook newspaper, former co-founder of the Seville Weekly newspaper. Paul Spencer may still own buildings on the downtown mall, including what was a falling down Jefferson Theater, which he then sold, I believe, to Corrin Capshaw.

Paul Spencer, a crime reporter, crimes and courts reporter for the Daily Progress. Another journalist at the Daily Progress that I think does a relatively good job, Jason Armesto. Some folks may disagree with that. I think the operators of Violent Crown Movie Theater would disagree with that. But I'll cut to the chase as someone who was a journalist at the Daily Progress. The folks that work there are severely underpaid and overworked. And unlike Cause, who is set financially through very sound decision-making, real estate, and other business endeavors he's been a part of, Jason is newish in his career. He is overworked and severely underpaid. So I think he's doing the best he can. I remember it was Mr. Greg Wells,

second generation Mr. Greg Wells. He was the guy who took interstate pest and service companies from one truck. His father started the business. It was his father who was driving around town doing pest control in Charlottesville and Almarol in central Virginia. He had one truck and he used pay phones around Charlottesville and Almarol to call his customers and say, I'm coming to you next. And then the first Mr. Wells told the second Mr.

Wells, Greg Wells, our friend that this will never be a business that could support a lot of people financially. And the second Mr. Greg Wells, our friend, said, I don't buy that. I think Interstate could be a business that supports our family and my kids and a lot of other people. And he took it into this behemoth American pest and service company that eventually had its pest control division sold to American pest, a global brand. He still owns the service and mold business, the Wells family, but he peeled off the pest control business and sold it to American pests for a hell of a lot of money. Significant money.

And Mr. Wells brought this business from one truck and one man and pay phones and turned it into a company that a European organization chose to purchase. Significant story. The American dream. One of the success stories that should be championed and celebrated here in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Central Virginia. He is a guy who, he may not know this, I hope this commentary gets back to him. He's a guy that's had a positive effect on my life. He was an American Legion baseball coach. I believe he even coached on the Albemarle varsity or JV teams, certainly American Legion baseball.

And he used to say, have this phrase, you do the best you can with what you got. You do the best you can with what you got. Every day you do the best you can with what you got. I pass that phrase on to our sons. I've changed that phrase a little bit. I said, you do the best you can with what you got. You'd be the best version of yourself every day. I say that to my son every

day, both our sons every day. Do the best you can with what you got. Be the best version of yourself every day. I'm proud of you and I love you. They hear that from me every day to the point where they can just rattle it off and interrupt me and say it. My six-year-old, my two-year-old still trying to formulate words that are deeper than one syllable. Dah. Mah. Nah. Armesto, I think, is doing the best he can with what he's got. The writer with The Daily Progress. He makes one error in this story.

And the one error I think he makes in the story in the headline is New National Intelligence Institute opening at UVA. He doesn't include in the writing, in his story, how many jobs come from this new institute. He talks about how it's a first-of-its-kind partnership between the federal government and the University of Virginia. He highlights in this story that Jim Ryan and Senator Mark Warner

and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines all gathered inside the rotunda for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. He highlights that the nature of intelligence has changed dramatically over the 10 to 15 years, including the fact that in this article, Mark Warner tells local media that China is hacking the U.S. left and right, that China is building a super soldier.

Tell me this isn't straight from Terminator. Yeah, I saw that. Did you see this? He said that China is using DNA samples from around the world to create super soldiers like science fiction movies. Warner says, and I quote, I'm not saying a robot like the Terminator,

but somebody whose literal physical presence is enhanced, can run faster, jump higher, be tougher. And that's a national security issue to us in the United States of America. Warner highlights the fact that China has hacked U.S. telecom networks and is listening to people's phone calls and reading their text messages.

And he says China is, to say they're a threat to America in our country is an understatement of significant proportions. The University of Virginia won a competitive bidding process for this institute, a 20 million federal award that comes with it. 20 million. The reason they chose Charlottesville and the University of Virginia is why the defense sector is booming here. It's proximity to D.C.

Without being right there. Without being right there. A slightly lower cost of living, like Philip Reese highlighted when he worked in the defense sector. He said people like Charlottesville because the cost of living is lower than D.C. and if we have to present on the hill, we're a short couple hours away. The only thing missing from this article was the jobs created. The jobs created from this $20 million federal award and this one-of-a-kind institute, a federal government and UVA partnership, joint venture. They might not know.

Perhaps. If they did not know, that's fair. And if they did not know, that should have been included in the article. the amount of incremental job growth for the Charlottesville metro area tied to this institute is currently unknown. That's how you write that and report it. That's what an editor should have told him to do. Not throwing shade, I'm just saying that's the only thing that was missing. I would encourage you, the viewer and listener, to read the article, New National Intelligence Institute Opening at UVA. It's fascinating. And this is how you should interpret it, Judah. This is how you interpret it. John Blair, I'm going to get to your comment. This is how you should interpret viewers

and listeners. The defense sector continues to grow. And I really want to see what the defense sector is going to look like once the Paul Manning Biotech Institute and the Jeffrey Woodruff continues to grow. And I really want to see what the defense sector is going to look like once the Paul Manning Biotech Institute and the Jeffrey Woodruff Data Science Center are up and running

at full steam and full force. Fontaine Avenue and over there where the old Cavalier Inn used to be located. Once those are in full force and you've got this one-of-a-kind data center

and this one-of-a-kind biotech institute, I want to see what that does to the defense sector and the economic impact it has. It's safe to say that the $1.3 billion from that white paper that was done by Weldon Cooper, commissioned by the city of Charlottesville, Alamo, and Greene County, and the Chamber of Commerce, it's safe to say that that $1.3 billion is going to increase. And it's important for us to highlight that $1.3 billion yearly impact increasing because these jobs are the six-figure jobs.

And these six-figure jobs are the jobs that are going to drive the HUD family household median income. In 2023, the HUD family household median income was 124,200. That number is going to go up. And as new jobs like this come to the area, everything is impacted. Everything is impacted. And that's a perfect segue, and then I'm going to you, John Blair, on deck. That's a perfect segue to something that Deep Throat sent me over the weekend. And Deep Throat's got strong disagreement with what I had to say

about Armesto. He's throwing some shade on Armesto as a journalist and reporter. I'm going to bat for Armesto as a journalist and reporter because I've been in his shoes. I have been in his shoes as a journalist and reporter with very little resources in your corner. But this is something that he shared with me over the weekend, which I found fascinating. If you want to get the Zillow headline on Lower Third Up. Zillow has issued revised 2025 home value predictors. What's the headline we got in there, J-Dubs? Zillow's revised 2025 Seville home price forecast.

Charlottesville Metro forecast, year-over-year uptick. What do you think it is, according to Zillow? Say that again? 2025, year-over-year. Zillow, what do you think the housing values are going to uptick according to Zillow? Is this just for Charlottesville? Charlottesville Metro.

How much are they going to uptick? Are we just talking about from now until January? Year over year. Yeah, 2024 versus 2025. I don't know, 6%. Nationally, it's 2.9%. The Charlottesville forecast is 2.2%. So less than national?

Yeah. According to Zillow. Zillow's forecaster is suggesting home values in October 2025 and the Seville metro area will uptick 2.2%, national 2.9%. Listen to this. Among the 400 largest U.S. housing markets, Zillow expects the strongest home price appreciation between October 2024 and October 2025 to occur in these 10 areas. Number one, Atlantic City, New Jersey at 6.5%. Kingston, New York at 6.1%. Augusta, your old stopping grounds, Maine, 6.1%.

I never stopped around Augusta, Maine. Pottsville, where did you stop around in Maine? Portland, Old Port. Okay. Which one was your favorite? Which part of Portland? Which part of Maine? Old Port's nice.

I mean, there's a lot of good parts of Maine. Augusta, Maine, 6.1%. Pottsville, PA, 5.9%. Knoxville, 5.8%. Vinland, 5.7%. So on, 5.8%. Vinland, 5.7%. So on, so on, so on. Nothing in Virginia. The 10 weakest home price appreciations.

Guys, of the bottom 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 are in Louisiana. Lake Charles, Huma, Lafayette, New Orleans, Shreveport, and Hayman. Six of the ten in Louisiana. I'm going to localize this, and he localized it for me by setting this over. Charlottesville, 2.2% according to Zillow. October 2024 versus October 2025. National is 2.9%. I'm going to ask this question.

What was the 23 to 24 shift? It was significant. I don't have that off the top of my head, but it was significant. I mean, an even better question would be 2019 versus 2024, a five-year period. What was that shift? And I would bet you that five-year price appreciation from 2019 to 2024 was flirting with 40%, if not higher. So is this a slowdown? Well, that's the question I'm going to ask you.

I'm going to ask you this, and I'm going to ask the viewers and listeners this question. Why is Zillow predicting that home prices 2024 October versus 2025 October in the Seville metro area will only uptick 2.2%. I'll ask you that question first, Judah. I mean, I'd have to think about it. All I can think is that... Well, you know this answer. I know you know this. I know this answer? Yeah. The reason why home prices are not, I mean, is the balance off? Is it that people just aren't able to get the inflated prices that they expect anymore?

I would say, and I know if you had some time to think about this, you would say interest rates. Yeah. You'd say a lack of inventory to purchase. But usually that leads to usually a lack of inventory and demand. Leads to home appreciation. Lack of inventory means prices go up significantly. Is Zillow right? Is Zillow wrong?

2.2% year over year is not a whole lot. And if you were going to put money into something and you only got a 2.2% appreciation in a 12 month period of time, you would say that investment sucked. Now Judah makes the point, if you look at the appreciation from 2019 to 2024 and something went up 40, 50%, 2.2% is compounded on that. So, you know, you're still doing fantastically well, but I'm going to highlight this. And I had this conversation with Deep Throat, our old stomping grounds, the Glenmore neighborhood, you have homes, Judah, that were trading at the beginning of the year for 50 to 60% higher than what they're trading for right now. We sold a home at the beginning of the year.

In May, a home that we sold in May versus homes that are on the market right now are trading for, Judah, you should literally hear this, for 60% less. 60% less May than now in the same neighborhood within spitting distance of, of a home. Yeah. What is going on out there?

I think, uh, almost identical comparables from may to right now. Right now you have a 60% reduction in price. May, in the same neighborhood. May to right now, it's a brick home, a Georgian, relatively similar lot, relatively similar square fee, relatively similar specs.

60% drop in price, asking, and the home is long in the tooth, not under contract. What is going on? And I'm not saying I even have the answer. What is going on out there? Demand has dropped. But why has demand dropped from May until now? Maybe other people who are buying properties are predicting that same 2.2 percent and seeing that – You're saying people are waiting? Just people are waiting?

What are they waiting for? Maybe a lot of investors who are the ones – It wasn't people investing – investors that were buying those. It wasn't? No. I mean I'm not going to discount it and say investors across the board. Right. I mean, we're in a different market now.

Who knows? It could be that people are just being more cautious. Or maybe it's people are seeing the writing on the wall, and it's telling them that property is not going to be gaining the way it was. Now is not the time to be buying up expensive properties that are selling for

10-20% over what they think they should be. Is the American homebuyer sitting on the sidelines until Trump gets into office and to see if the promises he made on the campaign trail of lowering interest rates truly become a reality? Is that what's happening?

Have Trump's campaign promises to lower interest rates throttled buyer demand? I wouldn't be surprised. Buyer demand that already was facing headwinds with increased home prices and increased interest rates and credit card debt hovering at American historic highs. Is that some collateral damage to his politicking, that he made promises on the trail to lower interest rates, and now he's basically, from summer until when he gets into office, maybe a six-month period of time, throttled interest even more? And here's a follow-up question. Follow-up question.

If he is unable to drop the rate, we know the Fed and the White House are supposed to work as separate entities. We know Jay Powell has said the economy is running well. I'm still a bit concerned about inflation staying sticky. I'm not eager beaver to drop the rates even more. Powell's in office into what? Into 2026?

Trump appointed Powell. He's into office until 2026. You would think that Powell is just going to ride out Powell's term, that Trump is just going to ride out Powell's term until 2026, until he makes a change. Let me ask you this question. What if rates do not drop like he has promised on the trail? It's going to be rough for a lot of people. John Blair on LinkedIn. I have a question that dovetails your interest in community spirit and the downtown mall story.

Typically, the grand illumination on the mall is a big deal. There is an announcement of where the city got its Christmas tree. A lot of publicity. I have hardly heard it mentioned in the news this year. Apparently it's happening on December 6th. I suspect there will be a lot of Christmas lights. He's right. Remember with the Christmas tree?

We would give the Christmas tree a name. There would be a naming contest for the Christmas tree on the downtown mall. Here's another byproduct of Charlottesville becoming a news desert. Because the TV stations, NBC 29 just had its sales staff cut it. It's cut its morning newscasts.

The newspaper and the TV stations are operating with a foundation made of band-aids and popsicle sticks and rubber bands. Is another collateral damage or byproduct of a news desert community? Community spirit dwindling even more because the legacy media was utilized to help notify the community about events?

Yeah. Think about it. Yeah, there's a certain... I think you could make an argument that legacy media created a kind of glue for communities where you had people who had knowledge of the same things and were aware of what events were going on, whereas now people get their information from disparate sources,

and maybe there's less of a feeling of connection. I read in the – I try to read – I read it like a lot of you guys. I try to read it all. I read in the newspaper today that they can't find someone to run the grocery store on Cherry Avenue. Yeah, unfortunately. That they approached the Reeds operators and the Reeds family. They said, hell no.

Not in those words. They said, not a chance in H-E double hockey sticks. I believe it's a much smaller space. The one on Cherry is way smaller. Yeah. I was shocked by the square footage of the Market Street market next door, 4,000 square feet the reed space was what

13,000 square feet and the one on Cherry what did they say it was going to be 7,000 and they're straight up saying in this one in this story that this Cherry grocery store this 7,000 square foot grocery store

that they're going to do on Cherry Avenue, because it's small in its nature, it's really not going to be able to carry, it's going to be 6,800 square feet. The Woodard family is going to build a $3 million shell. $3 million shell and 6,800 square feet. And they're straight up saying, because of this 6,000 square feet, 6,800 square feet. And they're straight up saying because of this 6,800 square feet, that whoever's managing this is not really going to have the opportunity

to sell a lot of healthy produce. Because it's going to be so small, it's going to have to be shelf stocked. And if you go to the produce department, the fruit department, it's much less widgets for sale than if you just stock shelves densely with boxed or canned goods. To put 6,800 square foot shell into perspective at a price tag of $3 million, that's $441 price per square foot. It's costing $441 to build a shell, a grocery shell. That's how much they want for it. No, no, no. That's how much they're saying it's going to cost for them to build a 6,800 square foot shell of a grocery store. I thought $3 million was the cost for a grocer to move in. No. Did you read it?

Yeah. No. Okay. They're going to build a 6,800 square foot shell that carries a price tag of $3 million. Then the grocery operator is going to have to outfit the shell how they see fit. So just building the box is $3 million. Okay. The paragraph that we both found most intriguing

was that Reed's Super Save market was 13,000 square feet and the Market Street market right next to us was 4,000 square feet. Yeah, that's pretty wild. The Market Street market, which we're in there, I'm in there almost every day. I think they do a pretty good job for what they have there. They do a great job.

They have produce. It's not a massive section, but it seems entirely suitable. I don't ever see, you know, it's not like I see people running in there and buying up every last broccoli floret or head of lettuce. They're definitely, I would say, a model to look to when figuring out what to do with cherry. I am disappointed with how all this is turning around

and I think Woodard, Anthony Woodard and his team are trying to truly find an operator and Piedmont Housing Alliances as well. But everyone sees the struggles of being a grocery operator and no one wants a piece of that business. And then the neighborhood, especially in a smaller space. Exactly.

And then the neighborhood association heard from a co-op presenter and the neighborhood association was unable to understand what the co-op was. So are you left without a grocery there? That story continues. And I'll close with this. I started the show, and I'll close with this. That game on Saturday with the Virginia Tech Hokies is much more about bowl eligibility for Tony Elliott and UVA and our fan base. It's about potentially not falling into the most apathetic state

as an athletic department and as a fan base, as we've seen since maybe the George Welsh era started. Could some of that apathy have to do with what it's like going two games in Charlottesville? I think part of it's that. I think part of it's Tony Bennett's retirement. The football team struggles. The basketball team struggles. All of it. And I think your athletic director, Carla Williams, has a serious conundrum on her hands.

And there's some scuttlebutt that she's interviewing for other jobs. We'll talk about that on the Jerry and Jerry show tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. Thank you for joining us. So long, everybody.