The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Livable CVille Want AlbCo To Raise Taxes; Livable CVille Is Based In City, Yet Protesting In AlbCo

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Livable CVille Activists Want AlbCo To Raise Taxes Livable CVille Is Based In City, Yet Protesting In AlbCo AlbCo Ready To Borrow $118M Without Voter Approval AlbCo Spending Today What AstraZeneca Will Pay Later Sales Tax Data Says CVille City’s Economy Is Dragging Will Biz Be Reimbursed Due To Homeless Encampment? UVA Hoops Earns #3 Seed In NCAA Tourney (3/20, 1:50PM) Need CVille Office & Commercial Space, Contact Jerry 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.

Welcome to the I Love Sevo Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us a Monday in downtown Charlottesville, where mom fear was rampant this morning and most of yesterday with impending doom from weathermen all up and down the eastern seabor. So far, it has not tornadoed. So far, no hail. So far, no cats, dogs, lightning, aggressive 100 mile an hour. wins. I have, however, seen a little bit of drizzle. Time will tell if that drizzle I don't want to get ahead of my skis. It's 12.40 p.m. on a workday in downtown Charlottes. And parents all over Charlottesville and Almaro County have been scrambling because their kids are not in school or their kids are doing half days. You give me a profession where you can get paid a lot of money and be wrong eight times out of 10 and keep your job. The only one I know of is Major League Baseball, where professional hitters are given $100 million contracts if they hit 275 with 30 ding-dongs and 100 RBI. The meteorologists, hey, these guys can be right three

times out of 10. And all they have to do is not use some extortion tactics to stay out of the slamer. Tip of the cap to the news. and the news agency right down the road from us here on Market Street. You can unpack that joke at your will. A lot we're going to cover on the program today. We are going to chatter, ladies and gentlemen, Al Morrow County looking to get deeper in debt. On Wednesday's agenda is an action item

that should have the entire community concern. I received a press release this morning from Philip Reese, the chairman of the Almero County Republican Committee. I thought it was excellent. work from Al Morrow County Republican Committee Chairman Phil Reese, a Republican Party, a Republican committee in Almaro County that clearly is trying to rebrand itself. Phil Reese is leading that charge. And as Almar Republicans are looking to rebrand their committee as one that is focused and mindful of keeping more dollars in Almore County in its pockets, I looked at the

press release this morning in my inbox and was thoroughly impressed with how detailed and well explained, the press release was and how Philip Reese was on top of it. We'll unpack Almaro County preparing to borrow $118 million without voter approval on today's show. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to ask you this question. Is Almero County spending money today that AstraZeneca will allocate years from now? Because it looks like the county is getting ahead of its skis and sees, and sees this carrot at the end of the road, Astrozenica, and the tax dollars that are coming two, three, four years from now

and is looking to spend baby spend in 2026. We'll talk about that on today's show. I'm going to talk on today's program about Matthew Gilligan and Livable Seaville. Goodness gracious. The level of anger, I was infuriated, I was insulted, I found livable Seaville's behavior yet again. Oh my God. Impetuous to advocate to protest.

And this is a protesting activist group, Livable Seville. That's based in Charlottesville City. Its founders live in the city. Yet they are lobbying, protesting, advocating, activating, Admiral County's board of supervisors to raise the tax rate one cent. It is nauseating. We're going to unpack it on the show. And anyone who says, oh, it's just a one cent raise.

If you have a $600,000 house, we're talking 50 or 60 bucks over the course of the calendar year. I call BS on that. Because this is a one-set real estate tax rate increase, while assessments in Almaro County across the board have upticked 6.7%. While they've uptick 40% over the last handful of years, and as assessments continue to rise, next year and as the real estate tax rate was increased four cents last year. This is the definition of a death by a thousand cuts for Almore Countyans as the county in Virginia, what is it, the sixth largest in the Commonwealth becomes more white, wealthy, and homogenous. And it's thanks to organizations like livable Seville that are pushing this.

On today's program, we'll talk about the Rivana Trail Homeless Encampment. I've gotten more feedback and response on the Rivana Trail homeless encampment. Judas convinced me I'm not going to call this Sandersville after city manager Sam Sanders because unlike the homeless encampment in Market Street Park where Sam Sanders legitimately green lit it and rubber stamped it, Sam Sanders has not rubber stamped or green lit the Freebridge encampment. No, he just made sure that the police couldn't do anything about it. We may

know, city council did. Not Sam Sanders. Are you on a two-shot? No. Judah Wickhauer. Go ahead. But Sam Sanders is the direct boss of the chief of police.

City council prevented the no camping and Chief of police watching the program right now. City Hall's watching the program right now. The city council prevented the policy to be approved that would have prevented public camping and public storage of possessions.

One of the most empathetic pieces of policy I've ever seen where Charlottesville legitimately was going to store the possessions of the houseless for 30 days. Something they already do, but now it would be based on law. I think this homeless encampment

may need to be called Juan Diego Wadeville or some kind of catchy moniker after the mayor of Charlottesville. Carol Thorpe, this is right up your alley. The homeless encampment under Free Bridge on the Rivana Trail, on the banks of the Rivana River, that is now being funded janitorial service-wise, hotel service-wise, by taxpayers with porter-potties,

wraparound services, janitorial cleaning, Used heroin needle, dirty syringe, dripping with DNA container disposable containers. Right? We drove down there this weekend. Folks, it's growing by the day. It is growing by the day. It needs a moniker. And I think that moniker needs to be tied to the mayor of Charlottesville.

Is this Wanville? is this Wadeville? Deepthroat that's up your alley. Carol Thorpe, you're a wordsmith. That is up your alley. What's the moniker? We'll talk about that on the show today.

And I'm going to ask you this question. Do the businesses there? I mean, let's talk the Rivana River Company. Does the Rivana River Company deserve some kind of reimbursement from the city or tax abatement from the city? Do the homes there deserve some kind of

real estate tax abatement from the city? One of the reasons you're buying a home in that exact near vicinity is the amenity, the Rivana Trail, and the access to the trail and the river. I mean, the entire premise of the business, the Rivana River Company, is the Rivana River. They are literally right there at Wandville.

Are they not there at Wadeville? Do they deserve a tax break or some kind of reimbabre? reimbursement. I'm going to ask you, you're the metronome of emotional and commentary consistency, Judah Wickhauer. I'm going to ask you that question on the program. I'd love to give some attention to Jerry rackliff.com. Jerry rackliff.com has got a subscriber website. It launched three weeks ago. And in three weeks, I think you're approaching 500 paying subscribers at Jerry rackliff.com. Right around that number. The commentary and the analysis offered from the

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame or Jerry Rackleff is second to none. He's covered 52 ACC basketball tournaments, and now the University of Virginia, ladies and gentlemen, is in the big dance. They're dancing, Judah. And I know you're going to be watching this team very closely. Every day. Jerry Rackcliffe of Jerry Rackleff.com is covering the 29 and 5 Virginia Meds basketball team, the three seed in the NCAA Midwest region, and its matchup

ladies and gentlemen, a big time matchup against Wright State on Friday, March 20th in Philly, the city of Brotherly Love, a 150 p.m. tip-off on TBS, Juda Wickhauer, the headline that most intrigues you today and why? We got a lot of good headlines about Charlottesville and Al Marl spending. I think it's going to be interesting discussion and something that a lot of people probably don't know about right now. Do we start Judah Wickhauer with livable Seville? We have two headlines that we can put on screen. I received a notification last night on social media that the activist group, Livable Seaville,

is pushing increased taxes for Almoreal County residents yet again. Remember, Livable Seaville was the driving force behind the 2025 real estate tax rate increase of four cents in Alamara County. There was no lobbying group, no activist group, more significantly activating in the background, lobbying, protesting, whatever the hell verb you want to use. That four cent real estate tax rate than Livable Seaville last year, livable Seaville circulated a letter.

They got a bunch of different nonprofits in the housing space to sign the letter. and that four cent tax rate dramatically impacted citizens in Alamaro County regardless of race or wealth status. No time in Alamara County history was there a sting more significant than 2025 from a real estate tax rate increase standpoint, four cents last year. Now the same group is utilizing social media, strategizing. organizing its constituency to try to bully Alamoire County's board of supervisors into a one cent tax rate increase and they want that money allocated directly to affordable housing forget the hypocrisy or the oxymoron that comes with raising taxes on homes and citizens to make their homes more affordable make that make sense how about this

hypocrisy, that the organization is based in Seville City and its founders are Charlottesville City residents. Hank Martin had some commentary last night that really got you thinking, Judah Wickhauer. Definitely. All of his commentary is just spot on. I cannot encourage people highly enough to check out some of his takes on things. And this particular take involved the fact that the imbalance between Charlottesville and Albemarle County and the fact that the entire deal was based on something that was repealed not long after.

So essentially for as long as this deal has been active. Are you talking to the revenue sharing agreement? I am talking to the revenue sharing agreement that Albemarle County has essentially paid millions. and millions and millions of dollars. I think it's $22 million the most recent payment. Hank Martin, watching the program right now. Go ahead, Judah. And there's not really any reason for it,

especially because the fact that Alamara County has no say in what the... That's the first thing. Albaal County has no say in what Charlottesville does with the revenue sharing money. The other problem is that... Let's see, if I can remember correctly, that take over for a second. Let me think about this. lost my train of thought.

Handsome Hank Martin's watching the program. You found his commentary compelling. Head to his Facebook page it if you need to read verbatim from there. I'll offer my commentary on this and then we'll pass the baton back to Judah. My first issue is this. These are city residents in a city activist group. And they absolutely screwed up their activism with the new zoning ordinance, and it's led to a quagmire. What's the guy's name?

That joke we created? A Brogmire? What was the guy's name? We put the lower throat on there? Quangmire? No. It was his last name. Oh, oh, Boomhauer. A boomhauer? You're on the, we're on the wrong cartoon. Yeah, boom hour. They screwed up the new zoning ordinance livable C-Ville. Livable Seaville is run out a leash and runway with city council. And now they're heading to the Board of Supervisors. They were the driving force behind the four-cent tax rate increase last year in Al-Moral County that stung the pocketbooks of Al-Moral Countyans more than perhaps any time in Al-Morrow County history as it applies to taxes on rooftops. Anyone who says it's just a one-cent tax rate increase, I encourage you, if not implore you, to shut that commentary down. It's not just

to one-cent real estate tax rate increase. This is coming on the heels of a 40 to 50% increase in assessments since the start of COVID to today. This is coming on the heels of a 4-cent tax rate increase last year, and this will stay in place in perpetuity. They don't reduce the rate. I can assure you assessments will go up next year. They went up on average 6.7% this year, this past year.

don't let anyone marginalize assent on a tax rate increase. This is a regressive tax. And for those that say, oh, this is going to hurt the wealthy. That's not true. This is not going to hurt the wealthy more. The wealthy utilizes, utilized tactics like conservation easements better than anyone. The wealthy utilized tactics, one of my mentors does this, where his fantastic property in Keswick in the Milton area is seen as a farm because he's got some cattle and some hay on it,

drastically reducing his tax base. This type of livable, civil endeavor, ladies and gentlemen, is going to, without question, impact the middle class and the lower class, and yes, even tenants as landlords pass the tax increases down to their renters. It's infuriating enough already, Judah Wickhauer. So the big issue, of course, is that there's an imbalance. Admiral County is giving money to Seaville with no involvement in the governance, the governance of Seaville. But the bigger problem is that when outside organizations look at,

at Albemarle County, they include all of the income for Albemarle County, despite the fact that some of that is leaving the county and coming to the city. So they look better on paper than they end up actually being in reality, which obviously is an issue. And I appreciate Hank Martin writing up about this Seville-Albemarle fiscal paradox. It's funny. Even one of the most liberal, left-leaning epicenters in Charlottesville, the Seville subreddit is pushing back on livable seaville. It shows people like you that it's not all. Oh, it's the drugs of society. I say this.

I say this. I find it humorous, entertaining. I read it, I lurk, I enjoy when we come up on it, genuinely enjoy when we come up on it, Charlottesville subreddit, but it's the dregs of society, the definition of anonymous keyboard muscles pumping commentary that they would never have the chutzpah or moxie or gumption to say on a microphone in front of cameras with their name on screen. I don't know if you've, as we do five days a week. I don't know if you've been in the cesspool that is Facebook recently, but trust me,

people 100% will put their name in front of some crazy stuff. It's all getting kind of wow. It's because of the chase. And Ginny Who is holding us accountable. It's Boo-Langered. Boo-Langard. I need to write a definition down. You need to put Boo-Langer down.

Boo-Langard's definition is that of Quagmire. Oh, that's the same. It's just like mouth salad, word sound? No, no. I'd say boo languored is you got you got boo languored. You got a, you got a, you stepped in a boo languor. Boo langard has a lot of definitions to it. You just need to write boo languor down.

You just need to come up with them because it's a new word. Boo langered is the new word for the I Love Seville show. Jeanniehoo, we're going to get to your comment. Carly Wagner, we're going to get to your comment. Carly Wagner has the back of Juan Diego Wade and says we should not name the homeless encampment, Wannville. although city council Carly Wagner

did prevent the policy for being approved that disallowed camping in public places and the sheltering in public places. I mentioned this on Friday show. Can you imagine if 200 individuals from North Downtown

200 individuals from Farmington decided to pack their Coleman tents and their fold-up chairs, and to call the banks of the Rivana River under Freebridge their home for weeks at a time what the reaction would be? That's what I said on Friday. Back to livable Seville. The one-cent tax rate increase before I get off this topic, I'm going to explain succinctly why this is a bad idea, and then we'll segue into Almaro County, and it's eagerness to borrow $118 million without voter approval. We'll get to that topic connects. Here's succinctly why I think it's a terrible idea. point number one

and this is a point that should be made across the board for anything lobbying or activating or protesting that livable seaville does these are city residents that make up this organization city residents and city taxpayers and city protesters

are lobbying a jurisdiction that is not Charlottesville instead is Almaro County to raise its tax base for affordable housing this is like Ned Galloway going into Charlottesville City and lobbying or activating or protesting Juan Diego Wade or Lloyd Snook to raise the real estate tax rate. It's the same thing.

It's like trying to get money from Goochland for no other good reason than we want your money. That's boo-langering right there. That's boo-langering, Matthew Gilliken. You're get your boo-langering us, Matthew Gilliken and Stephen Johnson. Number two, This is the entity that pushed the four cent tax rate increase last year. And now they're trying to smoke and mirror it by saying it's just one cent this year. It's nothing. It's $50 or $60. That's boo-langering.

If you did it $0.4. Last year and one cent this year, while assessments since the start of COVID until now have popped 40 to 50%, that is the death of a thousand cuts. That's boo-langering. And for those that say, oh, it's the wealthy that are going to have. pay cover most of this tax burden that's boo-langering that's not true the wealthy understand the concept of conservation easements they understand the concept of of registering their land and their acreage as farm use my mentor does this extremely well where he has some cattle and some hay and he gets

ridiculous tax breaks it's the middle class that have been in their homes for eight to ten years purchased before COVID, saw their assessed value of their units go up to $700, $800, $900, $900 million or more since the start of COVID to now, because it's such a popular place to live, but their salaries, their compensation have not kept up with that increase in housing overhead. They are the ones that are going to feel the burden, and last, and then you jump in. For those that say this will not impact the lower class, that's boo-langering. The lower class are tied to leases where tax exposures pass down to them. Talk about trickle-down. Go ahead. Then we go to the next topic.

I was just to say, I don't know how much middle class is left, but yes, the lower class are going to get the trickle-down effects of the owners of rentals, and they're certainly not going to be the most set to take on more tax burden. Now get ready for this next topic, lower third on screen. Oh boy, oh boy, have I been itching to talk about this? And you want to set the stage on this? Tip of the cap to Philip Reese. I hope he's watching the program.

We need to get you back on the show, Philip Reese. I'd like to get some attention to 919 Druid Avenue. 919 Druid Avenue. that was extremely successful. 919 Druid Avenue is a beautifully renovated four-bedroom, three and a half bath, Cape Cod, and the heart of Belmont. It's a $699,000 asking price. It is walking distance to everything and anything downtown Belmont, Midtown, UVA Corner, and UVA Hospital. 2,197 square feet, ladies and gentlemen, $699,000 ask. My business is real estate. This will have an eight handle on. in the very near future. 919 Druid Avenue, Judah Wickower, Alamaral County, $118 million. I was blown away by this. Set the stage. And it's even more than that. So the Board of Supervisors in Albuhral County is preparing to take on another, at least 118 million in new debt without asking voters for approval because they're using a special system called the Economic Development

authority to issue the bonds and up to 118 million will be asked for in order to in order to go to capital improvement projects. Then there is another, let's see, there's succinctly not to exceed another 26 million for the Ravana Station futures financing. And then there is also going to be another ask of not to exceed $12 million to pay back longer-term interest rates to help maintain their current loans. All right, here's what it is to sinkly. This Wednesday, ladies and gentlemen, this Wednesday, the Almore County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on whether to authorize a BOD issuance,

$118 million in new debt without a vote. This has been fast-tracked. Do Al-Morrow Countyans know about this in any capacity? The $118 million succinctly is for refinancing debt tied to Rivana Stations and Rivana Futures, along with, go ahead. It's actually $156.55 million. The $118 is for capital improvement. With schools in Al-Morrow County.

No one is talking about this. Yeah. This has been fast-tracked under the radar. And you know what? Part of the reason no one is talking about this is legacy media is a shell of its former self. Yeah. You have really locally three platforms that are providing content of merit locally. You have humbly and straightforwardly this show from 1230 to 130.

But what we are doing is offering commentary and analysis. We are not breaking news. That's not our business. The second platform that is creating content that is reporting is Sean Tubbs, and he does a hell of a job. Tip of the cap to Sean Tubbs. And then Seville right now is doing a good job of filling the void. They are churning content, but the content they're churning is not necessarily deep in its analysis. So you basically have to take Seville right now, read it, Sean Tubbs and read it.

and then come to this show and hear the commentary and analysis about what's going on. Those are your three options. Everything else out there is a waste of your time of being straightforward. On Wednesday, $118 million in new debt strikes me as Al Morrow County getting head of their skis. Supervisors are already talking about the impact of the – then, Judah, you jump in here. Supervisors are already talking about the impact of AstraZeneca. Emily Kilroy's office is already talking about the impact of AstraZeneca. She's the economic development director.

We're not there yet. We shouldn't be spending money that is not in the coffers. We should be spending money that we have today, not the money that's coming years from now. That's what's happening here. Most concerning for me is the lack of transparency. Now, Al Morrow County, they can say, what do you mean, a lack of transparency? Here's the agenda.

It's online. Here's the explanation. It's extremely difficult to digest. Yeah, I would agree. And if I can add to the lack of transparency, there's, I mean, there is stuff in here that I think the people of Altonaul County should hear about from their board members. and for instance there's talk of tax exempt revenue bonds, but then within a few sentence they're talking about this decision being contingent upon longer-term interest rates maintaining the current levels,

which tells me that they're not tax-exempt, that we are going to pay taxes on the issuance of these revenue bonds. I would like to know more about that, and I think a lot of people in Alamaral County, would at the very least like the chance to vote on this and hear what exactly we're, you know, we're buying into. I've shared a link to what we're talking about in the comments section of my personal Facebook page.

I shared the link to what we're talking about in the comments section of the I Love Seville group. And I'm sharing the link to what we're talking about in the comments section of the I Love Seville Facebook page. I encourage you to read this. Handsome Hank Martin, this is right up your alley. Barbara Becker Tilly, Georgia Gilmer, this is right up your alley.

Carly Wagner, Conan Owen, Jason Noble. This is right up your alley. We have print radio and television watching this program. Print radio and television. You should be covering this in your news cycles. It's Wednesday when this vote will happen. We can't just continue to spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend.

If we continue to spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, we will continue to raise taxes, race taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes, then just regular folk won't be living here. We'll have to raise taxes even more to make it more affordable. Yeah. And anyone that says, hey, it's the AstraZeneca money. Let's get the AstraZeneca money first. Because that's what they're saying.

tip of the cap to Phil Reese for sending this my way we appreciate you and Holly Foster's watching the program in Henrico she says on the weather we've had heavy rain and thunder and short pump and they're under a tornado watch until 7 p.m. We have a similar tornado watch here. Many of the kids are now out of school and parents are scrambling with what to do with their sions during the work day. Patrick Bull watching the program, who says they are absolutely ahead of their skis. It's outrageous and unsustainable.

Randy O'Neill watching the show. Next topic, Judah Wickhauer. I respect Carly Wagner. She says we should not be calling it Juanville. What's the nickname of the homeless encampment? Is it the Freebridge encampment? Is that what we're going to call it? I'm still of the mindset that we call it Wanville,

but Carly says, Juan is a good, honest, compassionate human. You can't blame him for the homeless problem. The real issue is that society is seeing a lot of symptoms of much deeper and harder to fix sickness. Mental health, addiction, gun violence, all those issues are rooted deeply in broken families. Call it conservative, but it's anthropological

that humans need to be raised in a loving family. That's somewhat fair. But I think the issue here is that we don't ever do anything. And the fact of the matter is that other countries don't have this problem. They don't allow people to steal just because they're hungry. They don't allow them to break the law just because for one reason or another, we see them as having a raw deal in life. And I get it.

But at the same point, we can't just continue to allow the downtown mall to be taken over. We can't just continue to allow the Ravana Trail to be taken over and not do anything because we feel sorry for these people. And I get it. It's not an easy decision to have to make, but somebody's got to make it. we're just about to talk about the falling levels of of revenue coming into the city wait till you see the data sent to us by deep throat who makes his living on data wait till you see what we're going to Charlottesville city has got an economic

issue on its hands it's not at crisis level yet but Charlottesville city is tracking well below jurisdictions in the the Commonwealth from a sales tax collection standpoint. And we're talking lodging, meals, retail. That's what we're talking. And when lodging, meals, food and beverage, buying stuff, retail, hotels, when that tax collection suffers, then they start popping the real estate some more. And they're talking today about a two cent tax rate increase in Charlottesville City.

Chris Engel, the economic development director, it's time the heat is turned up on this man. He's coasting in a six-figure job with pomp and circumstance. Chris Engel, City Hall, watching the program right now. That man's seat should be burning hot. What is an economic development success story from Charlottesville City from March of 2020 until now, the last six years, from the start of COVID until now,

give me one, Judah. Give me one. One economic success. We couldn't think of one. For Charlottesville City, from the onset of the pandemic until now, it's been six years, one success story, economic development-wise from Charlottesville City. We couldn't think of one.

Wasn't the only offer on that regard the money coming in from UVA? And I guess we could add the money coming in from Almaral County to that as well. Someone suggested, oh yeah, the only success story Charlottesville City has had over the last six years is number one, the Almore County Revenue Sharing Agreement, number two, the Amar County Revenue Sharing Agreement, and number three, the Amar County Revenue Sharing Agreement. In the meantime, Charlottesville City has seen its teachers unionize, has seen its, what? It's police unionize, its bus drivers higher pay.

Carly Wagner pushes back on you, Judah. That Charlottesville subreddit also defends the teacher that was arrested for child pornography and defends the first-degree murderer being out on cashless bond. Wait, what's the Reddit? The Charlottesville subreddit. You went to bat for the Charlottesville subreddit. Not really. I mean, Cohen Owen is on there.

Cohn and Owen's getting lambasted on the Charlottesville subreddit. Fred of the program. Yeah, but we also see some common sense show up in there. Just because it's largely overrun by one particular mindset doesn't, in my mind, automatically make it assess people. Do you have the sales tax data? Yeah. Deep Throat sent this to us.

Put, we're not going to bore them with multiple charts. We'll put the primary data, part primary chart on screen, set the stage in the table, Judah Wickhauer for what they're seeing. This is taxable sales growth by jurisdiction. Those jurisdiction, jurisdiction. Deep Throats watching, he's got comments. I'm going to get to him ahead. Sorry, Judah, I interrupted you.

Those jurisdictions are Charlottesville, Alist, Albemarle County and the state. And it shows, uh, shows, uh, obviously taxable sales growth, uh,

first between, uh, 2024 and 2019, and also between, uh, 2024 quarters 1 through 3 and 2025 quarters 1 through 3. So here it is. And it's on screen.

Deep throat watching. He says this. Chris Engle's biggest failure. is the Water Street parking garage debacle. Charlottesville City Hall has allowed the city to get bitten by Mark Brown for tens of millions of dollars on the Water Street parking garage. DeV Throat, the analysis he sends our way is so robust and significant. Interesting data, he says, from Virginia Sales Tax Database.

This is from the Virginia Sales Tax Database. from 2023 Q3 and 2023 to the latest data I can find which is 2025 Q3 total taxable sales in the city of Charlottesville have been flat 283 million for all Virginia independent cities the increase was 3.2% for the state as a whole sales increased by 4.6%

almore is up 6.2% sorry charlesville the city has a real problem with retail dynamism of course chris ingesil will fix it i'm being sarcastic here food and beverage in seville is down more than eight percent and the number of establishments is down by six percent while the state as a whole food and beverage taxable sales is up eleven percent and the number of establishments in the Commonwealth as a whole is up four and a half percent. For Alamore County, 17 percent and flat respectively. So those are called comps, what he's doing there. I'm going to give that to you again, sorry, very succinctly. Charlottesville City, food and beverage is down 8 percent and the number of establishments is down 6 percent. While the state as a comparison,

food and beverage taxable sales is up 11%. The number of establishments is up 4.5%. Alamara County is up 17%. I have been saying on this program for 18 months and I've been basing my commentary on this program for 18 months because our shop, our firm, is the confessional of business in Charlottesville.

there's no white cloth around my neck instead there's a bottle of McAllen 12 in my hand and as the C-suite comes in here or as the small business enters our doors and sits off camera at our desk or at an office of ours on the second floor of this building and they talk to us while I pour a Macallin 12 or a ragged branch bourbon I hear the good and the bad and the ugly of what's

happening to them. And everyone is saying the same thing in Charlottesville City. The labor's too expensive if you can find them. The rents escalate 4% every year. The owners of the buildings don't mind if they're vacant because it's such a small group of people that own them. And they're so deep pocketed that they want to maintain price point and have the dry powder to maintain vacancy. They've said the customer base has shrunk. The homeless issue is a problem. City Council is seen as incompetent. The disposable income for shoppers is next to nothing. The gasoline is eroding their buying power. Gas at the Ivy Road, Tiger Fuel, $1 increase from $2.79 before the start of the war and I ran to $3.79 this morning when I drove into work. It's up a

buck. I fill the family Ford Explorer, it's 15 gallons. That's 15 additional bucks every single time I fill up the tank a week. We're filling the tank one and a half times a week. That's 2250 a week. That's quick math.

94, 95, 96 bucks a month additionally. Ladies and gentlemen, you know, I have been to so many communities locally. So many communities in the Commonwealth. So many communities on the East Coast.

One of my favorite places to visit, spend a lot of time there, a lot of time there is South Hampton, New York. There's no public camping in Southampton, New York. There's no storage of possessions in South Hampton, New York.

They have this area in Southampton, New York, called the Village. And the Village is very similar to the downtown mall. It is the cleanest, most pristine shopping quarter I've ever seen.

I grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia. I've lived in Charlestville for 26 years, but I was raised in Williamsburg, Virginia by my parents. Williamsburg, Virginia is known for colonial Williamsburg and Duke of Gloucester Street. It's the main tourism attraction.

There's no homelessness next to the blacksmith? There's no homelessness next to the horseshoe maker or the pub or the trellis or Barrett's or the cheese shop. There's no homelessness next to the carriage rides or the lighting of the lawn.

Only in Charlottesville do we allow 200 individuals And the homeless population is estimated to be between 200 and 250 people as of now. Wait to you see what happens, James Earl Jones. If you build it, they will come. Shoeless Joe Jackson and Ray Leota coming out through the cornfield to play baseball in Kansas or Nebraska. Wait till you see what happens when you offer hotel services at Wanville. You want to go to the bathroom? Here are the porter pottys.

You need to charge your vape pen and your cell phone. here's the free electricity. Let's provide you janitorial services and cleanup services. You want to use that heroin needle to pump some white china into your forearm? Just dispose of your dirty syringe and your DNA and this container and will collect it and remove it for you. You want to bathe in the Rivana River? Go ahead. While you're at it, you can use the restroom in there too.

Who cares if there's just children swimming downstream or a business. is trying to pay its mortgage and operate and pay its employees right next to it. The sales tax data he just shows backs up that there's an economic development issue. Does it not, Judah? I think it pretty clearly does. Here's the charts again showing that between 2019 and 2024. The state of Virginia rose 26, 27 percent. Admiral County rose 31, 32% in taxable sales growth and Charlottesville, while 16% ain't nothing,

it seems rather tepid when shown against the growth in the state and right next door, or surrounding us in Alameral County. Deep throat, 16% growth is below inflation. So sales are shrinking in real time. That's a great point. This is why you watch and listen to the show, because this is what happened two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, there was a headline in NBC29. Two weeks ago, there was a headline on NBC29's website,

and it was based on a press release sent by Chris Engels' Economic Development Office, on how tourism traffic was up in Charlottesville. And a couple of weeks ago, within that story, there was mention about the vacancy rate on the downtown mall and how the vacancy rate is not a point of concern. But what's happened is the vacancy rate's been smoking mirrored. It's been smoke and mirrored by the Charlestville Redevelopment and Housing Authority taking up a key spot on the downtown mall.

That closes at 5 p.m. The entity that gives subsidized vouchers for housing is on the downtown mall. Make that make sense. My wife wanted to go to the Discovery Museum and the Mary Go Round on the downtown mall with our three-year-old son. This was during the workday. I'm at work. Our oldest son is in the second grade and he's at school. Across from the Mary go-round on the downtown mall and the Discovery Museum is Operation Hope.

Operation Hope's entire MO is assimilating felons back into society. Gets downtown with our three-year-old next to the Mary Go-Round across from the Discovery Museum. And right next to the Mary go-round, she says, was half a dozen folks that were waiting to get into Operation Hope that she said was, didn't make her uneasy. I said, well, right across from there is the felons go to try to get information about how they can put hard core prison time behind them and find jobs again here locally. She said, what? I said yes. Don Gathers watching the program. Don, we should get you back on the show if you're willing to do it. Don and I, I respect Don Gathers tremendously. I respect Don Gathers. He and I are complete. opposites when it comes to how we see things in life. But I respect Don Gathers. I'm willing to listen

to learn to Don Gathers. He's an incredibly intelligent and well-spoken individual, and it would be fantastic for a talk show. Don Gathers. I'd love to have you on the show to talk about all these topics if you're willing, sir. I sincerely mean that. I'm going to dig deeper into the sales tax collection data. I'm going to ask you, the viewer, and listener to push back on livable Seaville. And I'm going to ask you the viewer and listener to consider this. Compassion, compassion does not mean allowing folks to live for free in public parks. Compassion does not mean we allow folks to bathe and use the bathroom in public rivers. Compassion does not mean open-air drug use.

compassion does not mean we don't follow the rules. If we have an issue, it's a $6.2 million homeless shelter was purchased in October of 2025, and that homeless shelter is not going to be available until 2008, and still the city needs somewhere between $6 and $10 and $10 million on top of the 6.2 to retrofit the building. They still don't have an operator that's willing to run the shelter either. And most concerning of them all, we had over 200 beds initially planned for the $6.2 million office building, and now we're down to 80 beds. If this homeless shelter takes $12 million of taxpayer, $12 million, and we divide that by 80,

we're talking $150,000 per cot. Yeah. And it's not going to be ready until 2028. Yeah. And if you don't complement a $10 or $15 million homeless shelter on holiday drive with policy that says you can't camp or shelter outside, then that $10 or $15 million is useless. Yeah.

You can't force people to go to the facility. and some people are never going to want to go to a facility like that. There's a reason they don't make it into a place like the Salvation Army a homeless facility because some people don't like to follow the rules. There's a great article that I've been reading that discusses the fact that other countries don't allow the types of things that we allow, especially here. people doing drugs that's a problem that's not something to be compassionate about having Narcan on the downtown mall is not compassion

you're basically saying it's okay if you kill yourself taking drugs if you're close enough to our store maybe you won't die that's not compassion compassion is reaching out of hand and trying to help some of these people. That's the bright idea, right? The storefront, the bright ideas. Isn't that what it's called? The one next to Lynn Goldman. What's it called? Yeah, I don't know what that's called. But that is the one that I've seen. I think it's called the bright idea, right? You're probably right. They have on their storefront window. Narcan available. Free Narcan available. I don't have a problem with that. But you're not providing Narcan to people. The beautiful idea. So they don't die is great. But wouldn't it

be better to try to get them help, try to get them off of drugs. That's probably largely why some of these people, I'm not saying all of them are under the same circumstances. Patrick Bull calls it enabling. I would love to talk about this with with absolute amazing people, John and Andrew Vermillion, of Charlottesville Sanitary Supply and Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company. They are small business owners and they've been in operation for 62 years. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply has an e-commerce store where you can buy anything cleaning related or sanitary related and it will be delivered to your doorstep the same day Charlestville Sanitary Supply for free at price points that beat the big box brands.

And their swimming pool company, Charleston swimming pool company is who you contact for anything swimming pool cleaning, swimming pool construction, above ground or below ground, swimming pool robots, swimming pool covers, swimming pool shades and awnings, five generations of Amarralcounions and three generations running the business. The Vermilions in Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. We're one hour into the show. We'll talk about this stuff tomorrow, including Virginia's matchup on Friday at 1.50 p.m. And the first round of the NCAA tournament, that's going to be our focus point,

our focal point on Jerry Rackliff's show, the Jerry and Jerry show. tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. He's got a subscriber website. It's the best content out there, period. It's $8 a month. If you like Virginia Sports, it's the best $8 you'll spend. We close the program by giving some fantastic attention to our partners at Stanley Martin Homes. They are building quality homes, Stanley Martin.

Stanley Martin homes, whether it's condominiums, townhomes, single-family detached homes, homes that you can trust that cater to each person's unique needs and lifestyles, single family homes, townhomes, and condos, design and constructed with innovative techniques that ensure exceptional efficiency and aesthetic appeals. Stanley Martin Holmes. He's Judah Wickhauer. I'm Jerry Miller.

It's the I Love Seville Show back in the saddle at 1015 with the Jerry and Jerry show. So long, everybody.