The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - John Vermillion Joined Jerry Miller Live On The I Love CVille Show!

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

John Vermillion, President of Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, joined Jerry Miller live on The I Love CVille Show! 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 Tuesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show, our studio in downtown Charlottesville on Market Street. And as we start the program like we have over the last week or so, it's time to make the donuts. We got John Vermillion in the house. John Vermillion in the house. John Vermillion is the president of Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, and his family business has made some donuts, as they say, for 60 consecutive years. A business launched by his mother and father, and now a business run by John and his two sons on High Street. We'll talk Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, and we'll talk, folks, what it's

like to be in business in the Charlottesville, Alamo, and Central Virginia area in 2024. How have things changed? How have they stayed the same? What are some of John's predictions of what is to come? What needs to change in the community to make it more advantageous for the small business owner? What's the fallout or the positive or the cons of a potential presidential outcome that is now very clear? A red wave we're seeing right before our eyes. So, so much to cover with a man that I think is a household name and becoming even more of a household name. Judah Wickauer behind the camera, if you can go to the household name and John Vermillion. I ask you this one to kind of wet the

whistle and get you going with the easiest one. John Vermillion the man. Introduce yourself to everybody that's watching the program. Well Jerry, thank you and thank you for having me back. I'm John Vermillion. I am a lifelong resident of the community, a product of Alamore County Public Schools, class of 1983. A lot of shout-out to a lot of my fellow classmates out there.

The Vermillions have been in Alamore basically since the day I was born. I was actually born in Richmond. My parents moved to Charlottesville when I was about five months old to start the business, and here I am. Vanessa Parco, I think I can answer her question. Do Charlottesville Sanitary Supply sell filters for HVAC units? No, we do not. I have that answer right there.

I appreciate that question from the Queen of Earliesville. All right, we'll talk. I want to make this about business culture. I want to make this about Charlottesville culture, Albemarle County culture, Central Virginia culture, and what's changed, what needs to be improved upon, what is concerning to you. How about an open-ended one to start

before I ask you some specific ones? How would you characterize the state of the proverbial union for Charlottesville, Virginia? That's an open-ended question for you. You can go a lot of ways with that one, John Vermeer. Yes, I can. Yes, I can. Yes, you can go a lot of ways. The state of the union of Charlottesville, well, as being the forever optimist, I would say, you know, I'd like to say the state of the Union of Charlottesville, well, being the forever optimist, I would say, I'd like to say the State of the Union of Charlottesville and Elmore County is good, and I do believe it is. It's a challenge, I think, as we have discussed before and so forth,

that with the dynamics of how people purchase things and how they interact with people and so forth, that's all changing a lot. How they worship, that type of thing, volunteerism. You got sound there, J-Dubs? Go ahead. It's certainly a challenge, certainly a challenge for traditional organizations and kind of traditional establishments such as ours. But you know what? It just, you know, we have to roll with the punches and change as needed,

and I think you're offering this community a very valuable service in bringing attention to the local economy and local markets. Again, we're driven by the mansion on the hill, so to speak, of the University of Virginia. So a lot of that dictates what's going to happen in this community. But again, I'm forever the optimist and very thankful to be here because it is a wonderful, wonderful place to live and

raise children. And we've been very blessed. We have on December 11th, Chief Mike Conscious and Commonwealth's Attorney Joe Plantania on the show. They're going to be sitting in the seat that you're in, Chief Conscious and Joe Plantania, right next to you. Very curious about this one. How in your 60 years have you seen the downtown mall evolve for the better and for an evolution that may need improvement?

In your time here, it goes from car-centric to pedestrian-driven and no cars. Talk to us about what you remember during that time. That was a very drastic move that was made. Removing cars from the downtown mall and traffic on the mall really splintered the community I would love to hear your historical flip book of some of this well first of all I was very young when that happened but I do very much remember

driving down Main Street and the downtown Charlottesville at the time. My parents' Charlottesville Sanitary Supply was located on Water Street, and so, you know, traffic was, you know, that's what we had. And then when they made the decision to create the pedestrian mall, again, I was very young, so firsthand memories of that I know is very controversial. And here we are 50-plus years later.

It's proven to be a great boon for the community, but it had a rough start at the time, and people were polarized with it, very much how things are today. People are very polarized with their opinions. As far as being car-centric in Charlottesville, Charlottesville's a lot of hills in Charlottesville, so walking and bicycling isn't going to necessarily be for everybody, that's for sure, so we have to keep that in mind. Trying to go to we have to get places and conduct commerce,

even though a lot of the commerce is going over the phone and the computer, people still have to get places and go places. We have to accommodate for everybody. With that said, going downtown with the houseless, as you like to say, situation, that creates a whole set of problems associated with that. They're serious problems. How do you balance that?

Let's face it, the merchants in this community be it whether you're selling a service, selling a product or renting building space, that's how the taxes are paid. If people are hesitant to go somewhere and spend their money, then that's going to be a problem. And people are scared to go downtown, or we have them on High Street now.

We have a direct route to Freebridge, And we have to be very careful. I make sure my vehicles are locked in the parking lot now, whereas years ago I didn't worry about that. I had the first time this has ever happened to us here a couple months ago when somebody set our dumpster on fire. Really? Yeah, absolutely. Middle of the day, we look out there and our dumpster is on fire. It's like, holy smokes. I've never had that happen

before. That'll cause some consternation, especially when your dumpster is sitting underneath the power lines and right there next to the sign. Right next to traffic. Right next to traffic. Right next to traffic. So between the folks at Fitch Services next door to me and us and our garden hoses, we got it out before the fire department arrived. They were there quickly. We just happened to be on top of it. But so somebody came along and I assume flicked a cigarette

into our dumpster and set it on fire. You mentioned Freebridge. Two pieces of news from there. A promenade created by Albemarle County. Where it's what? How would you basically characterize what Albemarle County is trying to do here? They had a photo op with all the supervisors there except for Ned Galloway and I believe Mike Pruitt. But Supervisor Lepisto-Curtley, Malik, McKeel, and Andrews were there.

They've closed off a portion pretty darn close to you. Oh, yeah. That was the original River Road. I mean, that was the original Freebridge Road or Route 20 North. Was that what they call it, Freebridge Lane now or something like that? You're choosing your words carefully, John. Okay. I mean, I guess it makes sense to close it because it was more or less a lane there. But I will say my wife used it every day.

A lot of people did it was a quick cut through to get you down to the to into traffic quickly on to um onto 250 going into Charlottesville so I mean you're throwing more traffic back up at the congestion at the light at 20 and 250 feel good it's a feel-good motion, but I understand it. I understand it, you know, why they did it, because they had a lot of people leaning on them to do it. And that seems to be John Vermillion talking. Yeah.

Hold our fingers in the air, and let's see which way the political winds are blowing and who is being the the loudest about um about wanting to do things so k charts watching the program lindsey lube kelly wiley uh george gilmer uh mayor mcintyre bill mcchesney kyle irvin uh from the cpd we appreciate you very much kyle thank you for watching the show you also mentioned that Freebridge area, and I've noticed this, we've all noticed this, close to the river is, would you call it an encampment? Just as good a term as any. Yeah. You call it an encampment. And, you know, I walk

the Rivanna Trail from time to time, and I see it. You're braver than I am. Well, that was what I was going to ask you about. It's done during the day. It's done with our head on a swivel. It's done with some hesitation with the boys, with our sons. Has that always been the case by the Rivanna River that you can remember? Because you've got a pretty good vantage point there. No, that's a recent

phenomenon, you know, recent phenomenon being the last 20 years. So no, it's, you never thought of that. You never ran into a houseless, as you like to say, down there. You felt safe and comfortable to walk anywhere. But nowadays, you know, Dardentown Park, which I don't live that far from there as well I wouldn't go to any park after dark unless this is probably not politically correct, but make sure you have your concealed

carry permit just looking out for yourself and family I just find it interesting with how we're trying to navigate all this. From my standpoint, it's about, like I say on the show often, a hand up instead of a handout. And there seems to be a lot of handouts that are going around lately. And that's me talking there.

What did you make of how the community responded post-election? Anywhere you want to go on that topic? Well, I will just simply say on that topic, after the election and all of last week, it was very, very, very, very slow in the office. Phone wouldn't ring in, people weren't coming in, so it was very subdued, very subdued. Behind us now, right?

We take the, we're glasses half full people. It's time to, it's behind us. Well, we've got to get back to work. We get back to work and move forward, right? Exactly. And that's what we've always done. Yeah, that's how I look at it as well. Do we see any changes happening here locally in regards to that?

How do you mean? As far as anything from the election, I talked on earlier this week that I am concerned about the remodeling and development field, the real estate line of work when it applies to remodeling and development, because I know a good portion of that workforce is migrant. And then a report comes out yesterday that the National Home Builders Association, 37% of those on job sites when it comes to remodeling or home building

are potentially in the crosshairs of what could be immigration reform. And this is happening at a time when real estate is in a slow period because mortgage interest rates are extremely high and folks are sitting on their homes longer. A lot of folks secured 2%, 3% refinance loans or new loans during the pandemic and just aren't moving them. So there's a lot of headwinds we're seeing in the real estate industry. I'm just curious to see what you see as a business owner, as a guy that, you know, you and I have a lot of similarities in that we have to see ahead of where things are going.

From your point, prediction-wise, or seeing ahead of what's going, what do you see coming down the pipeline for the community? Well, all those are very, very valid points. In the big picture, something has to be done in terms of these folks are here. I can't ship all of them out. I'm not going down that road. I think the easiest, the best thing to do is come up with a plan to get these folks legal.

Because, yeah, that is, in terms of laborers, that's what makes up the laborers, the construction laborers. Some of my customers here in pool renovation business and that type of business that they rely on, Hispanic labor, you know, because they come to work and they do their job and do it well. I don't know what the answer is, is that other, you know, from native-born population. Honestly, I don't think they're going to do the work.

That's just, again, me. Yeah. For various reasons, you know, just the culture and how people have been raised. Yes, will labor costs go up? I'm sure they will. Will our other costs go down, though, associated with the new administration coming in, being a little more energy-friendly for carbon-based fuels? Let's face it, the world runs on diesel fuel.

It absolutely runs on diesel fuel from harvesting crops to either railroad or trucking or something. Everything is moved on diesel fuel and then gasoline a close second in terms of that. And my opinion, inflation started when the cost of fuel just went through the roof, and the cost of fuel is built into every commodity and every product I know that I sell. I get fuel surcharges on all the invoices that I have to pay for. That's an additional cost on top of the production cost. So it's a very ugly double-edged sword that has to be dealt with. But, you know, if we can get our transportation costs down and production costs down, then, you know, hopefully that'll balance out, you know, what the help balance of some, what the labor costs are going

to be. Labor costs has always been high. And it's just going to go higher i'm worried about that i don't i don't see that changing you know here i'm you're here i'm at the approach in the end of my career whereas you and judah and my sons and and folks like you you know y'all are smack dab right in the middle of it and certainly going to impact you and your generation more so than mine. But with that said, fixed incomes, when people retire, they're on fixed incomes. So it's a very, very worrying concern. How do you deal with that? I don't know. There are hopefully smarter people than I that can figure that out. But you know, politics is a funny, funny creature.

And it's, I'm sorry, it's so polarizing. I was having a conversation today with Jerry Ratcliffe. And there was a time, John, where we could sit down over breakfast at a tip-top restaurant. We have a conversation about politics. And that conversation could be a table full of men and women that had completely different opinions. And we could disagree, but we could agree to disagree, and we can go back to eating our grits and our scrambled eggs and our coffee,

and then changing the topic to something else. It seems so much more divisive now when it comes to politics. It's almost, as Judith said, tribalism. Either you're in the tribe, you're not in the tribe. I find that unfortunate. I absolutely agree with you, Jerry. Now, with me, I relish conversations with people that think, you know, maybe think a little different than I do on the political spectrum, but I respect what they say, and, you know, if they respect what I say, that's great. If they don't, that's on them.

But I have no problem getting into those, civilly getting into those conversations. It's zealots on both sides are dangerous, and they always have been through the course of history. So, you know, you have them. And now with communication being what they are, everybody has a microphone like us. One in front of you.

And to make their opinion known. Right or wrongly, that's just the way it is. Mike Aller's giving you some props right now. He's watching the program. Logan Wells-Colello, thank you for watching the show. This comment comes in from Deep Throat.

Be careful with the NHB, National Association of Home Builder Numbers. They, he says, are shills for the industry and like to play hide the ball. 37% of immigrant does not mean 37% of illegal immigrants. So keep that in mind, Jerry. He also says also the number of people employed in the U.S. in construction of residential buildings is under 1% of the total labor force. Pay enough, train well, and we can have plenty of labor for all of this. That's a good comment. George Gilmer says we used the Rivanna Trail in the beginning, but in recent years we haven't because it's too crowded and recently due to safety concerns. Other comments coming in, which I will get to and read to you in a matter of moments,

including from Vanessa Parkhill in a matter of moments as well. This one has come for John that I think applies to what we're talking about. Does he feel leadership in the Charlottesville community is best suited for leading the community? Ooh. I mean, people look at you, they're watching the show. I mean, you've been running a family business that's iconic. And it's clear from the first time you were on to this time and the feedback that I'm seeing on content on social media with you that you're beloved and seen as a leader in the community.

So with those hats come questions like... Well, I'm overwhelmed and I'm humbled, and thank you, everybody, for that. It is very much appreciated. Okay, no. No, I don't see any strong leaders that don't have an agenda that they're pushing. And again, polarizing agendas.

Now, I will freely admit, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, I was on top of everything political. I knew who was supervisors, what districts they were in. I made it a point of knowing them, especially when I was on the fire company board, to know these people. Today, not so much, mainly because I've, sorry to say,

I've become jaded and just try not to have a dog in that fight much anymore because I just get disappointed. Did you ever consider running for anything? I'm sure you were asked. Nobody has ever asked me in an official capacity. Thank you. I've got too many skeletons in my closet, Jerry.

I would not. As do most politicians in today's era. And the way the media and press are, and you get on somebody's bad side, I would not drag my family through that. I don't know. I don't know. So that would be completely off the possibilities list for John Vermillion in the future? Because I think you'd be a hell of a... You're in the Rivanna District.

V is represents my district. Your supervisor. Yeah, so she's in her second term right now. You would never do that? Well, the other thing, too too is my wife and I are planning to downsize and we may be moving out of the Rivanna district anyway. Maybe once I settle wherever I'm going to be and maybe people don't know me as well, it may be... It's funny, I was a politics major in my very short college career.

So politics has always... Is that George Mason? I went to George Mason. Okay. Politics has always fascinated me. Same with me. And I don't know. It caught me off guard with that one, Jerry,

if I'm quite honest with you. You know something else that resonated with me from our first interview was you said you live in the Rivanna District. You mentioned already on the show close to Darnotown Park. You have some acreage. You mentioned the last time you were on the show, if it was today's real estate market, we would not be able to afford the house and land that we have now. Oh, absolutely.

Now more kind of, uh, I would love if you unpack that, not tied to you specifically, but tied to, um, Alamaro County or the region, because a lot of folks feel that way. Um, it's become, um, some folks in leadership call it an affordability crisis, like a housing crisis. If you may keep Smith's on the program all the time, real talk with Keith Smith. and he says it's beyond crisis point. Anywhere you want to go on that topic? Well, yeah. My wife and I, we built our home. lot within, you know, I can see Dardentow Park from my back deck. I mean, that's how close I am to it. And it's a 2,800-square-foot house with a basement, main floor, second floor, and basement. I built that house with counting what I paid for the land,

albeit it was family land that I bought it, so we got it at a little bit of a discount, not much. But I had $175,000 that I built that house for in 1994. Our neighbor, a house right down the street, smaller house than mine, not as nice of a lot, not as nice of a view, just sold for a million dollars. A million dollars for a $150,000 house. It's older than mine,

so I know that's probably what they were able to build it for. So with that said, you're a fool. I shouldn't say fool, excuse me. You have to think long and hard about, because you kind of get an idea where our property taxes are going to go. My mother, who is sitting on a much larger parcel than me, she just lost, Elmore County took away her land use designation on her land. Explain that in layman's terms for the viewers and listeners. Land use is where the taxes are basically delayed payment.

They're subject to rollback taxes. So the way I understand it, land use is based on agricultural situation. And with my parents, their land was in land use based on forestry. And it allowed them to be able to afford to keep the land and keep the taxes under control. Well, Elmore County, and it wasn't explained to me very well. I did approach a couple of the Board of Supervisors about it, and they're very nice, but I got the impression they didn't understand really why it got rolled back. Everybody's quick to blame something else and somebody else controlling it. Oh, well, it comes from regulations that came down from the state. I don't know if I'm buying

that or not. I think it's just a matter of they didn't like land use designations anymore and they're just taking it away from people so they can get the money. That's my cynical take. And I don't think I'm too far off. Okay. That's just my take on it. So, yeah, now we have all these multimillion-dollar properties on modest homes. They're nice homes. They're nice middle-class homes. But now they're multimillion-dollar properties. You can see where the tax rate's going to go.

And so they're either going to price us off our land or tax us off our land. I think we're on that take. I'm in agreement with you. And, John Blair, I'll get to your comments in a matter of moments. Viewers and listeners that are leaving comments, we'll get to you in about three minutes with your comments. I want to respond to what John Vermillion just said. I have said on the show that taxes on rooftops, real estate, is one of the most gentrifying elements

of living in Charlottesville or Elmore County. And it's not just taxes on rooftops that are happening in real estate. If folks had any idea, you're in the city, I'm in the city with our businesses, how we're expected to pay our business taxes, they would be shocked. We're paying in the first quarter revenue projections for the entire year, oftentimes getting hit with a lump sum that is due in the slow time. Yeah, you got to go to the bank and borrow the money and pay darn taxes. Something wrong with that.

Right? Exactly. A lot of folks don't realize that. Yeah. And these kinds of headwinds, if you may, are, if anything, making it challenging to not just live here but do business in the community. Well, exactly. It translates into the cost of what I have to sell my products for.

We should go down this road. I mean, my CPA tells me you have to get this amount of percentage for the goods that you're selling before I can even afford to unlock the door. That's just to cover the overhead of operating the business. business and it are it you know between uh charleston alamo taxes and uh labor cost and put in there um you know inflated um goods cost i'm worried about i mean it's hard enough to be competitive now especially you know you know going i'm trying to phrase this correctly um in a market that's not just local anymore. In order for us to survive, the e-commerce site that we launched with your help,

I appreciate that, our Amazon page that we've launched. And it's, I mean, I can't go head to head with these folks selling toilet paper. That's for doggone sure, because I've got to sell it to cover the cost. So that factors into everything. That factors everything into the community

that makes a community unaffordable to the average person. Comments for you. This is from Ginny Hu on Twitter. We would not be able to afford our house either. We purchased it in 2001. Our eldest will be graduating from college and said there is no way she could afford to come back here and live. John's wife actually was one of her preschool teachers.

Ginny Hu watching the program right now. No idea that your wife was in education. I'm sure there's some conversation around the dinner table or the household as it applies to schools locally and how they may have changed or not changed. And that could be a good piggyback to what John Blair is asking on LinkedIn. He lives in the Samuel Miller district of Albemarle County. He says, I would love to hear John Vermillion's thoughts on how high school football has changed or collapsed in the city. I'm sure he and you can recall when Charlottesville's Friday night lights were like every other locality's.

If you've been to a CHS football game in the past couple years, the home-site attendance does not match the total crowd of some at JV games in Louisa or the Shandoa Valley. That's a loss for the community. It hurts the city, in my opinion. I can piggyback on that and highlight the first night in Virginia, the family-friendly New Year's Eve celebration that's gone, the fireworks celebration at McIntyre Park for the Fourth of July that's gone.

We talked about the Dogwood Parade not being what it used to be. In the previous show, we talked volunteerism on the show. So you have multiple community members talking to you about a topic that gets back to, I guess, community and the vibrancy of the community not being maybe what it once was. I've been here 24 years, and I've seen that firsthand. You've been here 60 years. I'm curious what your thoughts are. Oh, yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, if a community, kind of random thoughts here, but if a community gets to the point where the folks that have been here are struggling to maintain, just keep what they have,

and they're working their tails off to be able to generate enough revenue, again, to keep what they have, how are they going to have time to volunteer at the volunteer fire company or, you know, to, you know, you caught me off guard a little bit with the high school stuff because I've been so out of that realm. My youngest son graduated from Montash Hill High School in 2015. So I haven't looked back. The education in Elmore County schools,

you know, they're better than average. But in terms of when we were done, I was done. So we really haven't looked back on that. So I can't really talk to the culture of that, but if that's what's going on, the high school football teams and just not getting the traction or fan support from the community and the stands are empty, that's horrible because the surrounding communities, like you mentioned Louisa. I listened to your program the other day talking about the Louisa Lions and the Caged Lion and all that. I've been to that stadium.

I mean, that rivals some junior colleges in terms of their enthusiasm down there. So if you don't have that enthusiasm within the school system here, it may also be part of the school administration, too, being part of that problem as well. That's kicking another hornet's nest there. But no, all is not right in Charlottesville, Elmborough. That's for sure. Now, here's the thing. One other thing. You talk about, do I have political aspirations?

I think you'd be good at it. But why would I want to? There's the response. My wife has said that to me so many times. Why would I want to? It goes back to, I mean, when I leave work now, I'm exhausted. I'm so sad to go

do that. 20 years ago, maybe. But that's a problem if folks aren't wanting to step up. That you get in academics that are running for all the political offices that are tied to the university.

That's been the case in Charlottesville for years. They don't really have the same perspective as merchants, I would say. Yeah, and you know a lot of the merchants. Small business person of the year in 2023 had a conversation with someone that you and I know very well in the mall about what it's like running her business on the mall and the challenges that she's facing on the mall as it applies to foot traffic down, houseless population, and as it applies to what she feels is lack of support

from Charlottesville while taxes are increasing on her business at the same time. And we'll keep her nameless. I know who you're talking about. I couldn't do what she does. She is a saint. Her family is a saint, known them for many, many years. She works so hard, and she has to deal with washing out the vestibule to her business every morning because somebody's camped out in there and they've defecated.

It's just in the city. I don't care. Yeah, that's the conversation. And this is what I ask. This is what I'm wondering here. Are we causing it or building it ourselves? We're having the shelters and the soup kitchens all around our key places and encouraging lingering. When you put out the welcome sign. That's right.

Okay, so that's kind of what I'm wondering here. And what do we do about it? And where do we go from here? I don't have those answers. I was pleasantly surprised with the strategy from the Salvation Army of converting the thrift store on Cherry Avenue into an additional houseless shelter. That's on a bus route. That's close to everything. And it's an underperforming building on Cherry.

I think that's a great push. I don't even think that council currently has the answer. Sam Sanders, the city manager, has indicated that it's a priority, and this is the top thing they hear from the community, but nothing's been done. Well, as soon as the city coffers start running out of money because all the last taxpaying businesses left the community. And you saw the headline revenue. That revenue is down.

You saw that headline. Taxable revenue is down. It's been down, yeah. Thank goodness assessments keep going up for them, I guess, but I don't know. When they run out of money but you know they have the power of the taxation purse Rina Hochhage Rina Hochhage watching the program

her family, restaurateurs of talented proportions watching the show as we speak comments I'm going to get to here in a matter of moments with you guys we did a segment yesterday on the show why we're bullish and bearish on Charlottesville.

It was almost this Venn diagram with the two circles and why they overlap. We're bullish and bearish for the same reasons. The impact that UVA is having on the show, having on the community. It's driving the economy, but it's also gentrifying the community.

It's creating average household income according to HUD for families, $124,200, which you think disposable income, but the folks that are coming to this area don't have the same ties to the area. So that money

is not necessarily staying in the area. Not much of it. That's for doggone sure. Right. So it's that gray area with the Venn diagram with the overlapping circles. We weren't sure how to dissect it. How do you dissect it? Ooh. I don't know, but I will say that, you know, with all these folks coming in from that socioeconomic background,

that 1%, they're the ones that are running for the political offices. They're the ones that are taking those offices. People from other places. I'm not saying that's a bad thing or not. It's just an observation. Your supervisor from California.

B. Lapisto Kirtley. She was an elected official in California. Lives in a Tony Gata community. from California. California. Bea Lapisto Kirtley. Exactly. She was an elected official in California. Yeah. And, you know, the fellow that... Lives in a Tony Gata community. I won't say which one, but they can figure out what it is. Well, and the fellow that ran against her, last night, nice young man. I give him kudos and credit

for running against her. I like... Bea's a friend of mine. She's been in Charleston sanitary supply many times, and I'm grateful for that. But she smoked her opponent in the last election. He was from here. So the native population is dwindling

and becoming less relevant. Dare I say an argument could be made that the folks that have been here for the longest time that established the community are being pushed out. TJ Fatally of the Freebridge Auto family, he's come on the program. He had, I thought, a platform based and backed on reason. In fact, we endorsed TJ on the show. We don't endorse national politics, but we very much endorse local politics. And that

was not a close race. No, it was not. It was not a close race. There are three spots on the Amar County Board of Supervisors up for grabs in 2025. And 40% of city council, two of five spots is up in 2025. So half the board in Alamaro and two of five spots in the city. We talked on the show what we think is going to happen as a result of the Trump-Harris election was that there was going to be more engagement and activism locally in politics. And I think that engagement and activism and participation, maybe that's a better word, locally in politics could potentially change the complexion of the board on Albemarle County and may influence the Charlottesville dais with council in 2025. I'm curious to see what direction that goes

because I don't think it's going to go to a direction of what a lot want in the community of center aisle reasoning. I think it's going to go even more left aisle reasoning. Anything you want to touch on that one? I agree. I think the center in this community is becoming narrower and narrower.

That's been happening for a long time. Again, go back to having the conversation at breakfast. It used to be that you could have a conversation with folks and wouldn't be everybody left friends. I hope that still happens. Going back to the other political school board, Elmore County School Board, again, I have to be careful.

I'm in business, and everybody, everybody is welcome at Charleston Sanitary Supply, everybody. Please, please, please. When the school board, though, is more concerned with, and they have a superintendent that's driving it too, more concerned with changing names on school buildings. Now, some of them probably needed to be changed, but I don't know. I go and look at Mr. Hurt, who was the principal at Elmhurl High School

forever and ever and ever as principal there. I wasn't necessarily a big fan of Mr. Hurt. I didn't have an argument one way for him or against him. But he deserved to have his name on the school building because he was a Charlottesville icon legend and inspired a lot of generations to do well and go out and succeed in the world. And he was always encouraging, always a gentleman, always very nice. Colorblind as they come. And he got hung with the moniker of being racist

because back in the 60s in one of the Elmhurl high school yearbooks, somebody had a Confederate flag and a picture from back in the 60s, in one of the Elmer High School yearbooks, somebody had a Confederate flag and a picture from back in the 60s, and that was enough to get Mr. Hurt canceled. I did not think that was right, and I actually wrote all the members of the school board as well as sent and copied all the members of the Board of Supervisors. Did you get a response? One.

You did? Just one. Was it of the chair? It was the school board. It was not from the school board. That's what I was going to say. No, I take it back. I take that back.

Sorry. I did get a response from the chairman of the school, the chairperson of the school board. That's Judy Lee, right? Yeah. And she's right in a district. And she's right in a district. She's full of it. So was it word salad?

It was typical of somebody that has no ties with the community talking about, well, you know, we can't have that sort of thinking. I didn't understand. But it was a travesty. It was a travesty. And I just think it's sad. And I think it's very sad. And I think it's very telling of what's being pushed out. Comments coming in for you.

This one. You're doing a good job here. Interesting point about taxes. Left hand gesticulating about affordability. Right hand raises taxes to pay for all the manner of the pomp and circumstance, making it less affordable to live here. Are they really unable to see the connection? That's a point we've been trying to make on the show. Also, it's amazing that people who actually have to deal with the city leadership, city staff's lack of responsiveness and accountability, crime disorder,

can cite example after example of how unsupported they are. And then a cloud of folks with big ties to UVA's academic hierarchy and pay are saying everything is great, let me continue voting and moving forward. Kind of the point that you're making here. This from Twitter with Ginny. I would love to hear John's thoughts on changes in volunteerism. Over the past few months, I've stepped down from several of my positions, not because I don't still want to help our youth, but because of the power-hungry attitudes of some adults who make it so that it's not mentally healthy to participate. I never did it for awards or recognition, but I do expect to be treated with respect and decency.

A lot of comments coming in here for you, John. Anywhere you want to go on any of that? That's just sad as well. You volunteer out of the goodness of your heart to want to do for the community or whatever organization, and then you're getting, you know, derided by power hungry. I don't, that makes no sense to me. That makes no sense to me. And, but they beat you down. They beat you down, and you can only take but so much and and i i get it this this from someone with deep ties to the business community um local leaders out of touch uh with commerce and the

average family and the headwinds that small businesses are facing for so many reasons if you work for a government entity or don't actually run your own business, you have no clue what business owners face and real budgeting struggles. Something that is lost a lot in the local median income of $124,000 or so. Many newcomers and locals have a balance sheet that produce cash flow well in excess of the reported $124,000 family household income. I bet the average cash flow is more of 175,000 plus per household, but the 124 hits the 1040. That's a hell of a comment right there. That's a fantastic comment.

I will not utilize your name because you asked for Facebook message anonymity. That's a hell of a comment. Basically what the comment was is this. The family household income may be this according to HUD, but if you own a boatload of real estate, you have a deep stock portfolio, you have additional income that's coming into the household, but it's not necessarily showing up on the tax returns. Right. And I'll use that as a springboard to say that's exactly what's happening. And what I've seen in 24 years is as that's come to the Charlottesville area and it's become wealthier, I've seen a commitment to supporting local erode and become less support. And that makes me worried because why I fell in love with the community, why you're in love with the community, I don't want to speak for you, but I know you, is the local charm of Charlottesville, now Moore County. Well, it's my home. It's always been my home.

And you just get sad when it's changing. And a change is inevitable. I don't want to go back to that. That's fine. But, you know, some change is good. Some is not so good. A lot that continues to come in here. How about this one? What would John do to change where things are going?

There you go. Be the change we want to see. I'm going to be honest with you. I think you're trying to hold back an avalanche. And it would take a large portion of the community to push for that change. One person, I guess, it has to start somewhere, I guess. But get the priorities straight within the local governments and be more focused on local and not you know worried about carbon emissions and that sort of thing I use that as a general umbrella term of

things that really don't benefit or support the lives of their citizens, everyday lives of the citizens. Try to keep the taxes in check. Try to control bloat. They don't have any incentive to do that. So until that incentive is given, then it's just going to get worse. All right. Lock, stop, lock, stop and barrel. Lock, stock and barrel with you here, John Vermillion. This is another thing that I'm trying to follow. Where is the role for the local and the community moving forward?

If we have a Paul Manning Biotech Institute on Fontaine, where UVA is saying this is going to lead to 6,000 to 8,000 incremental jobs, most from outside the community. We have clearly data science is massive industry. How do we tailor make some of these jobs for folks that grew up in the area? And if we don't, my concern is that they're just going to be bypassed and forgotten? That's a very good question. I think, first of all, you have to start in the high schools, in the schools, and you have to, let's face it, and I wasn't one,

the college track isn't for every kid. The trades and promoting... I'm drawing a blank. But having these companies sponsor programs within the school system and with the technical education system of developing a skill set base for the kids that are coming along so they can channel and go

to work in these facilities they're bright kids but not everybody is suited to go to UVA or Virginia Tech or even JMU they're just not. They're not wired that way. But find help in the schools.

Find that vocational path. So these people coming along, the folks coming along, can be able to go to work in these places and make a livable wage to be able to stay within the community. The other thing, too, though, is there's not enough housing in this community. What's your stance on creating more housing as it applies to infrastructure? Well, I'm a big proponent of private property, and it's your property. You do what you see fit.

Property rights. Property rights, exactly. And Admiral County, they will shut you down over nothing. What's that mean? What's that mean, shut you down over nothing? I'm talking about just how long it takes to get in. If you don't have the zoning, if you need to be zoned a certain way for density building

and stuff like that to keep these costs down on these developments for these developers if they can't make money because what's put on them, the proffers that they have to put up infrastructure and building the infrastructure building infrastructure is

the role of government. That's where government comes to play. Building the sewer systems, the water systems and so forth. Don't put it on the backs of the developer because they just got to pass that cost along to whoever they're trying to sell their houses to. When it comes to that, it's the

one percenters are going to be the only ones that can do that. Stop that. Let's you know, stop that. You know, let's get that under control. You know, be pro-development. That doesn't mean you've got to go and bulldoze every vacant piece of land or tear mountaintops off. There's a balance there, and it can be found.

Let's face it. I grew up in a home that was built in 1732. People ask, is it on the National Register or whatever? I said, no, it is not. This is your mom's house currently? Yes. Okay. And they say, well, you know, it should be or whatever.

I said, well, no. And the reason being is if you go on to those registers, you have to do what they tell you to do within the guidelines, and that's usurpation of private property rights. My mother's home is a 9,000-square-foot frame house that everything needs to be painted. Painting never stops. It's just constantly going.

But private landowners or homeowners, they're the best stewards of their property than the government. So folks are responsible for their property and will maintain their property because they're proud of it. But when you take that pride away, then that's when you see stuff start going down. Deterioration. Yeah. then that's when you see stuff start going down deterioration yeah this is cool but yeah you know yeah i grew up in a at the oldest frame house in almarac county oldest frame house in almarac county this that's a good trivia question um this question do you get answers when you have questions when interacting with government officials and the commenter says i found that the city government is very secretive and refuses to answer even simple questions when I correspond with them.

Oh, no, you get no answers. I've got a situation going on on High Street now with the darn sewer line. You probably know this, Jerry, but a lot of people don't. If you own the sewer line coming from your establishment, travels out and empties into the sewer in the street, when it crosses from your property onto the street, everybody says, well, that's a utility at that point, a responsibility of the municipality. Well, not in Charlottesville.

Your sewer line belongs to you all the way to the point where it taps into the sewer. Well, we had the sewer line collapsed underneath High Street some time ago. Well, then next thing you know, it was at least five years before we had a problem with it. So at the cost of $20,000 to replace the sewer line, and the city told us basically pound sand, even though it's underneath High Street. And on top of that, what collapsed the sewer line wasn't traffic. It was trauma delivered upon the terracotta pipe on the street by a utility. A utility did it, and they knew they did it.

And when it was the telephone company at the time, you could see where the backhoe went through and broke the line. So they just dumped a bunch of gravel on it, poured a bunch of concrete on top of it, covered it up, and went on their way. And five years later, we have a time bomb. And so we had the proof to do that. But is the city helping us? Is the city helping us recover that? No, we can't. We're going to have to litigate it. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. I empathize because that's

darn near close to what? Half a salary. Three quarters of a salary that's how you look at it right exactly that's how every small business owner looks at it exactly is is expense what it go ahead well and also and but we've been paying our utility bills for the last 60 years to be hooked to that line. You know, we get anything for that? No, no. And you got no response from that? No, there's no city attorney. Yeah.

How about this, John? Viewers and listeners, we're not going to get to every comment here that's on the feed here. It's with the 132 marker. So we actually have gone 62 minutes with John Vermillion, who is very good in this setting here. Anything else that you've been thinking of that's in the John Vermillion, that big brain, the subconscious or the conscious, that should be out there? You've got a platform here. Charlottesville, Albemarle County, anything else stuck in the crawl

that we should be noodling or talking about on the show it's not really answering your question but the only thing that's coming to my mind right now that I think I need to say is everybody please be kind please be kind to your neighbor please be kind to people that

are around you be empathetic you don't know Be empathetic. You don't know what their troubles are. You don't know what they're going through. Pray for government leaders. They're trying their best, I know. And it's easy for me to sit here and, you know, I don't think I'm throwing stones, but just making my observations. I don't think you're throwing stones, yeah. But they're trying their best. But everybody needs to listen. But be kind.

Please be kind. I appreciate your straightforwardness today. John Vermillion, guys, good people, his second rodeo on the I Love Seville show. And when he comes on the program, the folks come on out and they ask questions. And I think that's what we're trying to do with the show. and when he comes on the program, the folks come on out and they ask questions. And I think that's what we're trying to do with the show. We're talking topics that are challenging on a daily basis on the show, but I think it's conversations that need to be had, and I appreciate John for that.

Judah Wickauer behind the camera. The I Love Seville Show archive, wherever you get your podcasting and your social media content. One programming note before we close the program. Chief Kochess, Chief Mike Kochess and Commonwealth's Attorney Joe Plantania on the December 11th of the show. December 11th episode. That interview was booked today. So get ready for that one. Thank you kindly for joining us. It's the I Love Seville Show. So long everybody Thank you.